CNY Regional Economic Development Plan

Transcription

Albany Allegany Broome Bronx Cattaraugus
Cayuga Chautauqua Chemung Chenango Clinton
Columbia
Cortland Delaware
Dutchess Erie
Essex Franklin Fulton Genesee Greene Hamilton
Herkimer
Jefferson
Kings
Lewis
Livingston
Madison Monroe Montgomery Nassau New York
Niagara Oneida
Onondaga Ontario Orange
Orleans Oswego Otsego Putnam Queens Rensselaer
Richmond
Rockland
Saratoga
Schenectady
Schuyler Schoharie Seneca Steuben St. Lawrence
Suffolk Sullivan Tioga Tompkins Ulster Warren
Washington Wayne Westchester Wyoming Yates
Central New York Regional Economic Development Council | Five-Year Strategic Plan: 2012-2016
Central New York
Regional Economic Development Council
Members
Co-Chairs
Nancy Cantor
Chancellor, Syracuse University
Robert M. Simpson
President, CenterState CEO
Central New York Representatives
Tony Baird
President, Tony Baird Electronics
John Becker
Chairman, Madison County Board
of Supervisors
Jim Carrick
Chairman, Polaris Library Systems
Phil Church
County Administrator,
Oswego County
Dr. Ruben Cowart
President and CEO, Syracuse
Community Health Center
Heather Erickson
President, MedTech
Susan Feiszli
Mayor, City of Cortland
Andrew Fish
Executive Director,
Cayuga County Chamber
Michael Johnson
General Manager,
Johnson Brothers Lumber
Company
Kevin LaMontagne
CFO, Fulton Companies
Greg Larioni
Vice President,
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Joanie Mahoney
County Executive,
Onondaga County
Stephanie Miner
Mayor, City of Syracuse
Margaret Morin
President, 4-M Precision
Cornelius B. “Neil” Murphy Jr.
President, SUNY College of
Environmental Science
and Forestry
Rita Paniagua
Executive Director,
Spanish Action League
Fred Pestello
President, Le Moyne College
Michael Quill
Mayor, City of Auburn
Kathryn H. Ruscitto
President and CEO,
St. Joseph’s Hospital
Ann Marie Taliercio
President, UNITE HERE
Local 150 AFL-CIO
Peter Tortorici
Chairman, Cayuga County
Legislature
Mike Treadwell
Executive Director,
Operation Oswego County, Inc.
Garry VanGorder
Executive Director,
Cortland County Business
Development Corporation
Jack H. Webb
Chairman and CEO, Alliance Bank
Nancy Weber
President, Oswego County Farm
Bureau/Owner, Mexican Pride
Farm in Mexico, NY
Jack Williams
Chairman, Cortland County
Legislature
Randall Wolken
President, Manufacturers
Association of Central New York
Public Participation Work Group*
Andrew Fish and Fred Pestello
Co-Chairs
Dolores Byrnes
(also Writing Work Group)
Le Moyne College
Dawn Curry-Clarry
SEIU Local 200United Joel Delmonico
Clear Channel
Joseph Della Posta
Le Moyne College
Bill Fisher
Onondaga County
Travis Glazier
Onondaga County
Denise Williams Harris
Office of Assemblyman
Samuel D. Roberts Kipp Hicks
Madison County Industrial
Development Agency
Steve Kulick
Le Moyne College
Julie MacConnell
Clear Channel
Lindsey Ott
Clear Channel
Scott R. Phillipson, Esq.
SEIU Local 200United Samuel D. Roberts
Assemblyman,
119th Assembly District
Honora Spillane
(also Strategy Work Group)
Onondaga County
Caeli Sullivan
Onondaga County
Strategy Work Group*
Nancy Cantor
Chair
Sally Berry
Loretto
Ed Bogucz
Syracuse Center of Excellence in
Environmental and Energy Systems
David Bottar
CNY Regional Planning and Development Board
Terry Brown
Warner Energy
Richard Carreno
SUNY Morrisville
Michael Chamberlain
Finger Lakes Musical Theatre
Festival
Lee Davis
O’Brien & Gere
Linda Dickerson-Hartsock
The Tech Garden
Cynthia Dowd Greene
Upstate Medical University
Bea Gonzalez
Syracuse University
Kristen Mucitelli-Heath
(also Vision and Writing Work
Groups)
St. Joseph’s Hospital Health
Network
Marilyn Higgins
Syracuse University
David Holder
Syracuse Convention
& Visitors Bureau
Dan Hurley
Upstate Medical University
Michael Kelleher
SUNY College of Environmental
Science and Forestry
Steve Kern
Everson Museum of Art
Mike Kuhn
Mohawk Global Logistics
Dan Larson
Cayuga Community College
Melanie Littlejohn
National Grid
Michael Melara
Catholic Charities
David Mankiewicz
CenterState CEO
Seth Mulligan
CenterState CEO
Michael Novakowski
CenterState CEO
* Central New York Regional Economic Development Council members also served on the various work groups.
Dominic Robinson
CenterState CEO
Larry Sala
Anaren
Benjamin Sio
CenterState CEO
Emily Thomas
Festival
David Wall
Onondaga Community College
Ben Walsh
City of Syracuse
John H. Watt
Alliance Bank
Vision Work Group*
Robert M. Simpson
Chair
Michelle Brown
St. Josephs’ Hospital
Health Network
Roger Evans
New York State
Department of Labor
David Gower
Intertek
Terry Masterson
Cayuga Economic Development
Agency
Writing Work Group*
Cornelius B. “Neil” Murphy Jr.
Chair
Karyn Burns
Manufacturers Association of
Central New York
Jonathan Daniels
Port of Oswego Authority
Christa Glazier
CenterState CEO
Kathleen Haley
Syracuse University
Elle Hanna
CenterState CEO
Amy McVey
Syracuse University
Eric Persons
Syracuse University
Kevin Quinn
Syracuse University
Melanie Stopyra
Syracuse University
Emily Thomas
Festival
FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN: 2012-2016
A Message from the Council
T
he Central New York Regional Economic Development Council is pleased to submit the following strategic
plan on behalf of the region. This holistic economic strategy reflects the input of thousands of Central New
York residents who participated in this process, hundreds of issue experts, more than two dozen council
members, and several national foundations, consultants, and think tanks who have been working with our region
for years to transform our approach to economic growth.
This action plan embraces our region’s economic diversity, leverages our unique assets, and prioritizes
innovation and collaboration. Included in this strategy are 30 priority projects that are eligible for Capital Funding
and Excelsior Tax Credits. Collectively, they represent a total investment of $785 million, total five-year payroll of
$393 million, and total project expenses of more than $1.1 billion. Together, they support the creation of 1,958 new
jobs and 1,928 construction jobs; the retention of 366 existing jobs; and leverage a return on investment of 28:1.
These investments complement our strategy by bringing high-quality new jobs to abandoned facilities in
distressed communities, supporting major urban development initiatives, building the research and development
capacity of academic institutions and industry sectors, and encouraging the exporting of regional products to new
and growing international markets, among others.
Beyond the 30 priority projects, we have also outlined a series of transformational initiatives, which this process
has identified as critical to our long-term competitiveness. These initiatives include, but are not limited to, projects
that create regional innovation clusters, build human capital by increasing educational attainment, provide riskcapital to entrepreneurs, and connect our rural residents to the global economy through expanded broadband
service. We believe these deserve strong consideration as new programs and funding streams are developed to
meet the changing needs of a new economy.
This plan represents a hopeful, strategic, and realistic vision for Central New York’s economy. The long-term
implementation of this vision will take years of sustained, collaborative, and creative hard work and require the full
resources of the private, public, not-for-profit, and civic sectors. Securing those partnerships, and sustaining them,
is our council’s commitment.
In return, we ask that the Governor, his administration, and the Legislature continue to focus on reforming the
fundamental issues affecting New York State’s business climate—high taxes and energy costs, mandates on local
governments, and overly burdensome regulation, to name just a few. Without sound regional strategies, reform alone will not produce sustainable economic growth and quality
communities. Likewise, without reform, no regional strategy will be sufficient to fundamentally improve its
business climate, create jobs, and generate new opportunity for its residents.
The submission of this strategy is not an end, but rather the beginning of a renewed commitment to regional
and state-wide collaboration to create jobs, improve skills, and increase our global competitiveness.
1.0 Executive Summary
2.0Regional Assessment of Existing Conditions and Economic Opportunities
3.0 Economic Development Vision • Vision Statement
• Central New York Regional Goals
• Critical Issues to be Resolved /
Critical Opportunities to Advance
• Public Stakeholder Engagement
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3232
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4.0 Economic Development Strategy and Components
• A Long-Term Plan for Transformational
Change in Economic Development
• Strategies, Tactics, & Priority Projects
• Central New York Regional Policy Portfolio
5.0 Regional Implementation Plan
• Implementation Matrix
• Public and Stakeholder Engagement Sustainability Plan
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84, 86
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6.0 Performance Measurement 9091
Strategic Plan Bibliography 95
• CNY Regional Performance Measures
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CENTRAL NEW YORK REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
Executive
Summary
vision statement
Innovation and collaboration are central to the creation of opportunity for all who live and
work in Central New York. By taking ownership of its future, operating in a nimble and
efficient manner, and leveraging its many assets—natural, agricultural, geographic, economic,
educational, cultural, and human—Central New York is working to create a diverse, sustainable,
and globally competitive economy while preserving and enhancing the region’s treasured quality
of life.
Central New York’s vision for economic prosperity and the
development of the region’s strategic plan is a product of strong
collaboration and engagement with our local communities,
anchor institutions, and, at the national level, with foundations
and think tanks whose expertise lies in regional development.
Since the creation of the Central New York Regional Economic
Development Council (CNY REDC), public sessions were
conducted in each of the five counties across the region to
gather community input that has identified key economic
assets, opportunities, and challenges to overcome. Extensive
work by stakeholder groups in business and civic life produced
13 white papers that prioritized strategies and tactics, and
identified key initiatives in the region.
In addition, Central New York has been the beneficiary
of extensive support from the Ford Foundation, the Surdna
Foundation, Say Yes to Education Inc., the Kauffman
Foundation, CEOs for Cities, and the Brookings Institution,
which have all contributed to a growing understanding of the
opportunities and challenges that our region faces in both
the national and global context. The creation of this strategic
plan, therefore, is a natural and authentic product of these
relationships and our own regional expertise as we strive
to learn from others and develop essential partnerships to
support our transformation.
We recognize that our economic and social diversity
is among Central New York’s greatest assets. The region’s
diversity of core industries has helped, in part, to mitigate
the most crippling effects of the recession, especially when
compared to other regions around the nation that are overly
dependent on individual industries. During the most recent
downturn, the region as a whole has fared better than the state
and nation on many key economic indicators.
Furthermore, our diverse social assets—demonstrated
in part by our healthy mix of urban and rural communities,
ethnic populations, cultural organizations, and educational
institutions—are laying a pathway for addressing our critical
issues and opportunities through extensive collaboration
with our economic engines. Where we see economic barriers
in the high cost of doing business, fragmented government,
brain drain, and concentrated areas of poverty, we also see
opportunities to leverage public investments and develop
public-private partnerships with anchor institutions to
overcome those challenges and unlock the region’s economic
potential.
CNY REDC recognizes that the force of continued
collaboration is essential, and our economic objectives must
also address the social opportunities and challenges we have
throughout the region. As a result, the strategic plan for Central
New York is built around three priority goals to guide our
region’s collective actions:
trengthen Targeted Industry Concentrations
S
that Leverage Unique Economic Assets
Improve Competitiveness in, and Connections to,
the Regional, National, and Global Economies
Revitalize our Region’s Urban Cores, Main
Streets, and Neighborhoods
1.0 | executive summary
Cayuga,
Cortland,
Madison,
Onondaga,
and Oswego
Counties are at
the crossroads of
New York State.
Courtesy of CenterState CEO
These goals are not presented in a way in which we
will work to attain them individually, but they are framed
throughout this strategic plan to integrate with each other
so that our specific tactics and initiatives will lead to
greater outcomes. Included in our strategy are 30 priority
projects that are eligible for Capital Funding and Excelsior
Tax Credits. Collectively, they represent a total investment
of $785 million, total five-year payroll of $393 million, and
total project expenses of more than $1.1 billion. Together,
they support the creation of 1,958 new jobs and 1,928
construction jobs; the retention of 366 existing jobs; and
promise a return on investment of 28:1.
This strategic plan recognizes that our priority projects and
transformational initiatives must all build on a solid foundation
for sustainable growth and prosperity in our economy, in our
neighborhoods, and for all our citizens.
Strengthen Targeted Industry Concentrations
In planning for its future prosperity, the region has identified
several critical industry concentrations that are at the heart of
its economic strategy. These sectors represent a cross-section
of both traditional and new economy industries and share
five common criteria: (1) they have critical mass of existing
firms and a large base of existing employment in the region;
(2) employment in these sectors is highly concentrated in
Central New York; (3) there is significant growth in regional,
national, and global demand for the products and services
they generate; (4) Central New York possesses resources
to support these clusters and, therefore, this region has a
competitive advantage to attract similar firms; and (5) they
are deeply connected to our anchor institutions.
Our priority industry concentrations are:
a. Clean Energy and Environmental Systems – Central
New York has the eighth highest concentration of private
sector “green jobs” of any region in the country and is
home to New York State’s Syracuse Center of Excellence
in Environmental and Energy Systems (SyracuseCoE), a
consortium of more than 200 research institutions and
private sector companies.
b. Health, Biomedical Services, and Biosciences – Our
region’s hospitals directly employ more than 23,000
people and another 3,500 are employed in private,
high-tech biomedical companies with average wages
approaching $70,000, nearly double the region’s
median wage. Our extensive research and development
(R&D) in the biosciences cluster not only fuels health
and biomedical, but also drives our clean technology,
agribusiness, and other core industries.
c. Financial Services – This industry employs more than
24,000 people within the existing labor market. Recent
research demonstrates that Central New York offers
significant advantages to firms in this sector, such
as a lower cost of operation and a highly skilled and
experienced labor force that provides opportunities for
employment growth.
d. Agribusiness and Food Processing – New York State
is the nation’s third-largest producer of fluid milk and
commodity crops representing more than $1 billion in
sales alone. Central New York is a significant contributor
and increasingly focused on value-added opportunities
for agribusiness, including food processing.
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The region’s
industry
clusters, global
connectivity,
and strong
municipal cores
are at the heart
of its economic
strategy.
Courtesy of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
vPrioritize Investments in Innovation, Commercialization,
e. Advanced Manufacturing – Manufacturing represents
10 percent of the region’s total employment and subsectors, such as digital electronics and radar and sensor
systems, and serves expanding global markets in
security, information technology, and defense.
f. Tourism – Tourism is a $1 billion industry in Central New
York, and current global economic conditions, including
the weak dollar, create opportunities for our region to
draw additional international visitors across our shared
boundary with Canada and from entry points downstate.
The region’s economic development strategy acknowledges
and embraces the global nature of today’s economy and
positions businesses, large and small, to compete in an
increasingly competitive marketplace. Central New York’s
highly educated workforce forms the foundation for those
investments, as does its unique concentration of leading
higher-education, research and development institutions, and
proximity to the Canadian border and the ports of Oswego,
New York City, and Newark, N.J.
In order to improve our global competitiveness, the
region will make significant investments in several critical
mechanisms that fuel economic growth:
vEncourage New Venture and Product Development –
The region has a strong foundation in entrepreneurship
with collaborative programs between higher education
and business. We will further invest in efforts to support
successful venture development, including student
venture development, as part of a transformational
strategy to re-energize the regional economy.
and Process Improvement – Continuous improvement
and the development of new products and services is
critical to the success of businesses in a rapidly evolving
global economy. The region will encourage private
investment in research and development; improve
technology commercialization among its educational and
research institutions; and create a complete ecosystem
of mentors, business services, and risk-capital to enable
innovation.
vCapture a Greater Share of the Global Marketplace –
Ninety-five percent of the world’s consumers currently
reside outside of the United States. Improving export
performance is critical to the long-term competitiveness
of the region. Export-driven jobs also provide higher
wages for the region’s residents. In addition to promoting
Central New York’s products and services across the
world, the region is well positioned to attract new foreign
investment from global companies looking to serve
domestic markets.
vBuild a 21st Century Infrastructure – Global
competitiveness requires global connectivity. The region
must improve its physical infrastructure, including its
air service, port access, road and rail infrastructure, and
broadband connectivity, in order to get regional goods to
national and global markets.
vMaximize Human Capital – While the region possesses
a highly skilled and well-educated workforce, the region
is expanding its participation of the workforce in the new
economy, particularly in key industry sectors, such as
advanced manufacturing and health care.
Revitalize our Region’s Urban Cores,
Main Streets, and Neighborhoods
Strong regions are built around strong municipal cores and
neighborhoods that develop, attract, and retain the human
and social capital required for industry to grow and remain
competitive: the convergence of ideas and people. Many
leading businesses and key industry sector hubs are located
within these city and town centers, and the region’s anchor
institutions—educational, health care, and cultural—have
been at the forefront of the national movement to leverage
their significant assets for community revitalization. Building
upon the strengths of these existing opportunities, the region
will recreate the social, physical, and cultural fabric of its
neighborhoods, urban cores, and main streets.
In pursuing the goal to invest in and strengthen our region’s
cores, the region will:
vRethink – Reinvigorate the region’s neighborhoods and
main streets through mutually beneficial partnerships
with diverse businesses and the region’s anchor
institutions, and invest resources that leverage the
national movement of anchor institutions to restore
neighborhoods, train new workers, retain young talent,
and create small business and social enterprises.
vRepurpose – Our municipal centers represent significant
investments in physical infrastructure that must be
preserved and enhanced for future growth. We will
pursue a strategy that repurposes existing physical
assets through adaptive re-use and brownfield
remediation, links planned transportation investment
with surrounding private development through
transit-oriented strategies, uses green technologies to
improve the efficiency of existing assets from individual
buildings to entire neighborhoods, promotes density in
development, and encourages quality communities.
vRetrain – Human and social capital is the most important
asset for a globally competitive economy, and our
region must rise to the challenge to improve Pre-K-20
educational attainment; provide greater access to
education; prepare students for high-demand careers;
retrain workers for new careers; support minority,
women, and veteran owned businesses; and create
quality employment opportunities that will allow
individuals and families to prosper.
Aligning Strategies for a Sustainable Future
in the Global Marketplace
These three priority goals are the basis for a disciplined
approach to achieving our vision for strategic, equitable,
and sustained prosperity. The holistic nature of the region’s
strategy will differentiate Central New York from its peers in
that we embrace our economic and social diversity as being
central to our future success. The region will enable the
growth and intersection of established target industries, while
simultaneously investing in its communities and residents in
ways that enable long-term global competitiveness.
Therefore, the projects in this strategic plan for Central
New York address the three priority goals outlined above.
They represent innovation and entrepreneurship—not just
within the industries they may represent, but also stand as
social enterprises that help transform our neighborhoods
and urban cores in ways that make the region more globally
competitive. They build upon collaboration—not just in
managing the economic assets that fuel their development, but
among the public agencies, anchor institutions, and economic
development entities that drive public engagement. And
they promote cross-sector integration—not just in the ideas
and processes that drive the development and distribution
of products and services, but in the way Central New York’s
families, cultural institutions, and businesses feed into each
other. Collectively, the projects listed in this plan represent
investments that maximize the public good we envision as a
region, and they set a foundation for transformative prosperity
across Central New York.
To implement the region’s priority projects, the council has
developed 18-month and five-year implementation matrices
to inform both the council and the community on the plan’s
progress; track priority projects, initiatives, and critical project
deadlines; and track the public participation process. These
implementation tools provide for the inclusion of current
and future intra- and inter-regional initiatives, such as the
Brookings Metropolitan Business Plan and Metropolitan Export
Initiative, and ensure a common platform for communication,
performance evaluation, and public engagement.
It is the intention of the Council that successful
implementation of the strategies, tactics, and projects outlined
in this plan will, in part, result in:
• The creation and retention of high paying jobs in our
region’s vital industry sectors.
• An increase in the region’s educational achievement
and attainment through such initiatives as Say Yes to
Education.
• The growth of new and emerging businesses, especially in sectors that this plan indicates as regional
strengths.
• The strengthening of already robust innovation and
R&D through more patent applications and research
expenditures, and commercialization tactics.
• A doubling of the region’s export activity to global
markets.
• An increase in the region’s sales tax base spurred by a
growth in visitor spending.
• Growing the region’s affordable housing, job density,
access to transit, and central business district
occupancy rates.
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Next Steps in Building the Foundation
for Transformative Prosperity
Although this strategic plan is largely developed to address
immediate funding opportunities to partner with New York
State, it would not be complete without addressing projects,
programs, and other current opportunities that are critical for
our region’s transformation.
Through a strategic partnership with the Brookings
Institution, four market levers representative of our goals,
assets, and collaborations have been identified that build
a strong foundation for economic development moving
forward: regional industrial clusters; connecting people, jobs,
and housing; workforce alignment; and innovation infrastructure.
Within each of these levers, the CNY REDC has identified
several transformational initiatives and projects that will have
a catalytic impact on our region’s future prosperity. While
currently available state capital funding and tax credits may
not be deployed to support these initiatives, we feel strongly
that these initiatives must remain a focus for our community
and become a priority for New York State if our regional vision
is to be fully achieved. Transformational projects include:
vRegional Industrial Clusters
New York Energy Regional Innovation Cluster (NYE-RIC)
NYE-RIC is a statewide alliance focused on accelerating
the development and deployment of innovations to
dramatically improve energy efficiency in buildings,
addressing a global demand in a market that is expected
to grow dramatically over the coming decades. The
proposed investment of $225 million includes $150
million from private and federal sources, which can be
catalyzed by $75 million from multiple state sources.
Food-to-Market and Agricultural Programming
Central New York is uniquely poised to be the
agribusiness “hub” of New York if it can coordinate its
use of agricultural and natural resources to create more
robust systems for local food to market initiatives and
regional energy production.
Tourism in the Arts and Culture
Our region has an abundance of arts and cultural
opportunities, with world-class offerings by individual
artist studios to large-scale performance venues. We
must access broader audiences while finding ways to
leverage community support and funding for the arts to
reach national and international markets.
Project “Top Hat”
A Fortune 1,000 financial services firm is considering an
expansion in multiple regions in upstate New York, with
the potential to generate more than 1,000 jobs. In order
to accommodate the anticipated growth, the project
will engage institutions of higher learning in terms of
internships, curriculum development, and employment
opportunities to meet its workforce demand.
vConnecting People, Jobs, and Housing
Municipal Core Mixed-Use Investment Program
The Restore New York program successfully provided
needed gap financing to mixed-use projects of all sizes
throughout the state. The program proved critical to
getting new commercial and residential construction
moving in Central New York’s municipal cores and the
state must consider the creation of similar mixed-use
investment programs.
Broadband/Connectivity Infrastructure
In an increasingly interconnected marketplace,
ubiquitous high-speed, affordable broadband Internet
access is a key component to thriving economies in both
urban and rural communities. Rural areas need a strategy
to support investment in broadband to connect its
citizens with each other and the broader economy.
Region-Wide Waterfront Revitalization Strategy
To unlock the full economic potential of the region’s
abundant waterfronts, New York State must help
create focused waterfront programs that leverage local
investments in municipal revitalization, marketing,
business recruitment, and shipping.
vWorkforce Alignment
Say Yes to Education
The nation’s first-ever, district-wide implementation
of Say Yes in the City of Syracuse is poised to be a
visionary, turnaround model for education and economic
development in urban centers across the United
States. New York State must help expand the Say Yes
Summer Academies throughout the five-county region,
and further advance scholarship opportunities for our
aspiring youth.
vInnovation Infrastructure
The Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Auburn, one of the region’s many
tourism assets.
Photo by Glenn Gaston | Courtesy of Cayuga County Tourism.
Innovate Upstate Fund
Central New York has a robust innovation ecosystem
through R&D at its academic institutions and a strong
support infrastructure that accelerates the development
Syracuse’s
is poised to be a
visionary, turnaround
model for education
and economic
development in
urban centers across
the nation.
Courtesy of Syracuse University
of early-stage companies; however, the state does not
have a complete continuum of funding programs and tax
breaks to assist startups in emerging technology sectors.
The region’s private and institutional partners are working
to capitalize a regional venture fund to provide critical
risk capital to accelerate the launch and growth of more
startup companies.
CNY REDC Expectations of Funding Recipients
In order to maximize the value of New York State funds, the CNY
REDC strongly encourages recipients of funding through this
process to:
1. Reinvest in the Community – Reinvest some percent of
project awards to create a community reinvestment fund
to further advance our collective transformational opportunities. In so doing, Central New York should further
leverage limited public investments by creating sustained funding streams for advancing the arts, research,
innovation, Pre-K-20 education and the inclusion of
public art and green infrastructure in our public spaces,
among other priorities.
2. Use Local Labor – The CNY REDC encourages, to the
fullest extent practicable, the use of local labor, both
3.
union and non-union, to fulfill projects that are funded
through the regional council. We also encourage funding
recipients to select responsible bidders. Funding recipients will be asked to report to the council on their local
labor utilization rates at the completion of their project.
Utilize Minority, Women, and Veteran Owned Enterprises (MWVBE) – The CNY REDC recognizes the
critical importance of minority, women, and veteran
entrepreneurship, and strongly supports continued
capacity building of these enterprises. The council also
encourages, to the fullest extent practicable, usage of
MWVBEs that exceeds existing statutory thresholds
to fulfill projects that are funded through the regional
council. We intend to work with project sponsors and
MWVBEs to facilitate meaningful business connections
that can assist project sponsors in meeting this goal.
Funding recipients will be asked to report to the council
on their MWVBE utilization rates at the completion of
their project.
By investing in these long-term strategies, and starting with
the priority projects and tactics described in this strategic plan,
Central New York is laying a foundation for transformative,
sustainable prosperity into the future. l
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Resumen
Ejecutivo
Declaración de nuestra Visión:
La colaboración y la innovación son elementos centrales al desarrollo de oportunidades para
todos aquellos que viven y trabajan en el centro de Nueva York. Al apropiarnos de su futuro
trabajando de una manera ágil y eficiente e influenciando cada uno de sus recursos-naturales,
agrícolas, geográficos, económicos, educativos, culturales, y humanos- En el área central de
Nueva York se ha trabajado para crear una economía globalmente competitiva, diversa, y eficaz,
así mismo realzando y preservando la calidad de vida de la región.
La visión del Centro de Nueva York de una prosperidad
económica y de desarrollo del plan estratégico de la región
es un producto de su poderosa colaboración y relación con
nuestras comunidades locales, institutos bases y, al nivel
nacional, con fundamentos y una maquinaria de expertos cuya
experiencia se encuentra en el desarrollo regional. Desde la
fundación del Consejo de Desarrollo Económico Regional del
Centro de Nueva York (CNY REDC), se han conducido sesiones
públicas en cada uno de los cinco condados de toda la región
para adquirir aportaciones comunitarias que han identificado
recursos económicos fundamentales, oportunidades y desafíos
que superar. Un trabajo extenso realizado por grupos de
personas con un interés genuino en los negocios y la vida
cívica, 13 escritos que priorizan tácticas y estrategias, e
identifican iniciativas esenciales para la región.
Además de esto, el Centro de Nueva York ha sido el
beneficiario de un amplio apoyo por parte de la Fundación
Ford, la Fundación Surdna, la Fundación Dile Sí, la Fundación
Kauffman, CEO para Ciudades y la Institución Brookings, las
cuales han contribuido al creciente entendimiento sobre los
obstáculos y oportunidades que nuestra región enfrenta, tanto
en el contexto nacional como en el global. Por lo tanto, la
creación de este plan estratégico es un producto auténtico y
natural de estas relaciones y de nuestra experiencia regional a
medida que nos esforzamos por aprender de otros y formamos
alianzas esenciales en apoyo de nuestra transformación.
Nosotros reconocemos que nuestra diversidad social y
económica está entre los valores más grandes del Centro de
Nueva York. La diversidad de industrias principales de la región,
en parte, han favorecido el poder mitigar los efectos más
agobiantes de la recesión, especialmente, en comparación con
otras regiones alrededor del país que dependen grandemente
de una sola industria. En el más reciente descenso, la región
entera ha estado mejor parada que el estado y la nación, según
lo afirman varios indicadores económicos.
Además nuestros diversos activos sociales- demostradas
en parte por la considerable inclusión, entre las comunidades
urbanas y rurales, poblaciones étnicas, organizaciones
culturales e instituciones educacionales – están trazando
camino para tratar nuestras situaciones críticas y
oportunidades a través de extensa colaboración con nuestra
maquinaria económica. Donde vemos barreras claves
económicas es en el alto costo de hacer negocio, en el gobierno
fragmentado, cansancio mental y la concentración de áreas de
pobreza también observamos oportunidades para influenciar la
inversión pública y desarrollar asociaciones públicas y privadas
con instituciones base para sobrepasar los retos y desarrollar el
potencial económico de la región.
El CNY REDC reconoce que la fuerza de una colaboración
continua es esencial y, que nuestros objetivos económicos
deben señalar las oportunidades sociales y los obstáculos que
existen en toda la región. Como resultado, el plan estratégico
del Centro de Nueva York se ha fabricado alrededor de tres
objetivos prioritarios para que sirvan de guía en las acciones
colectivas de la región:
Fortalecer las concentraciones industriales
seleccionadas que están reinvirtiendo sus
únicos recursos económicos
Mejorar la competitividad en la economía
regional y acoplarla con la economía nacional e
internacional
Rehabilitar los núcleos urbanos de nuestra
región: las calles principales y sus vecindarios
Estos objetivos no están
presentados de manera en que se
articulen individualmente pero, en
el plan estratégico están elaborados
de una forma que puedan integrarse
uno con el otro para que así nuestras
tácticas e iniciativas específicas guíen
a un resultado mejor. Incluidos en
nuestra estrategia hay 30 proyectos
prioritarios, que son elegibles
para fondos capitales y créditos
contributivos. En conjunto representan
una inversión total de $785 millones,
para un total de nomina a 5 años de
$393 millones y un total de gastos
de proyectos de más de $1.1 billones.
Juntos apoyan la creación de 1,958
trabajos nuevos 1,928 trabajos de
construcción y la retención de 366
empleo existentes y promete 28:1 en
rendimiento de inversión.
Este plan estratégico reconoce que nuestros proyectos
prioritarios para un futuro inmediato y, nuestras iniciativas
transformativas de largo plazo, por las que seguimos luchando
y desarrollando, todas están fundadas en una base sólida para
un crecer fuerte y próspero de nuestra economía, en nuestros
vecindarios, y para todos nuestros ciudadanos.
F ortalecer las concentraciones industriales
seleccionadas que están reinvirtiendo sus únicos
recursos económicos
En planificar su prosperidad futura, la región ha identificado
concentraciones de sectores industriales fundamentales
para emprender su estrategia económica. Cada sector es una
muestra representativa de la nueva economía industrial y la
economía tradicional, y comparten tres criterios comunes: (1)
contienen una masa crítica de empresas ya existentes y una
base de empleos en la región; (2) los empleos en esta zona
están mayormente concentrados en el centro de Nueva York;
(3) hay un crecimiento significante de demanda regional,
nacional, e internacional de productos y servicios de dichas
industrias locales; (4) el Centro de Nueva York posee los
recursos necesarios para sostener estos grupos y de tal forma,
la región tiene una ventaja competitiva para atraer empresas
similares; (5) y ellos están conectados profundamente con
nuestras instituciones base.
Nuestras concentraciones industriales prioritarias son:
a. Energía Limpia y Sistemas Ambientales - En el centro
de Nueva York está la octava concentración más
grande de sectores privados conocidos como “empleos
verdes” de cualquier región del país, y es el hogar
del Centro de Excelencia (COE) del centro de Nueva
York, especializado en materia de energía y sistemas
ambientales, un consorcio de más de 200 instituciones
de investigaciones y compañías del sector privado.
b. La Salud y las Ciencias Biomédicas – Los hospitales
de la región emplean directamente a más de 23,000
personas y otras 3,500 personas son empleadas por
medio de agencias privadas. Por su parte, las empresas
biomédicas que disponen de tecnología al día cuentan
con salarios promedio de $70,000 que casi es el doble
del salario promedio de la región. Nuestra extensa
investigación y desarrollo (por sus siglas en inglés
R&D), en el campo de la bio-ciencia no solamente
impulsa salud y la biomedicina, adicionalmente, dirige
nuestra tecnología limpia, negocios agrícolas y otras
industrias importantes.
c. Servicios Financieros – Esta industria emplea a más de
24,000 personas dentro del mercado laboral existente.
Recientes investigaciones han demostrado que el
Centro de Nueva York ofrece ventajas significativas a
industrias en este sector, por ejemplo, bajos precios de
operación y una alta calidad de la fuerza laboral, que
provee un crecimiento en oportunidades de empleos.
d. Empresas Agrícolas y de Procesamiento de Alimentos
– En el estado de Nueva York es el tercer estado de
mayor producción de leche de la nación y de cultivos
básicos que en solo ventas representan más de $1
billón. El centro de Nueva York es un contribuidor
clave en éste mercado y cada vez se enfocará más en
desarrollar oportunidades que aumenten el valor de
los negocios agrícolas, incluyendo el procesamiento de
alimentos.
e. Fabricación Avanzada – La industria manufacturera
cuenta con 10 % de los empleos de la región, y
subdivisiones como la de electrónica digital, de radar
y de sistemas de sensor y, sirven para expandir y
brindar información tecnológica, seguridad, y defensa
a diferentes mercados en todo el mundo.
9
10
evolución y por ello, la región
estimulará inversiones privadas
para investigaciones y desarrollos;
mejorar la comercialización de
tecnología entre sus instituciones
de educación e investigación;
formar un ecosistema completo de
mentores, servicios comerciales y
arriesgar capital para permitir la
realización de invenciones.
Courtesy of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
f. Turismo – El turismo es una industria estimada en
$1 billón en el centro de Nueva York y es también
un fenómeno global a pesar del decaimiento del
dólar. Éste crea oportunidades de atraer visitantes
internacionales a nuestra región y a la frontera
compartida con Canadá, y como punto de entrada, la
parte Sur del estado.
ejorar la competitividad en la economía
M
regional y acoplarla con la economía nacional e
internacional
La estrategia de desarrollo económico de la región reconoce
y comprende la naturaleza global de la economía actual y las
posiciones de las empresas, grandes y pequeñas, en luchar
decisivamente en un mercado competitivo. La educada fuerza
laboral del centro de Nueva York compone la fundación de
dichas inversiones, así mismo, su educación superior de
alta calidad, la experiencia en investigación y desarrollo y la
proximidad a la frontera Canadiense y puertos de Oswego, la
Ciudad de Nueva York y Newark, NJ.
Para poder mejorar la competitividad global, la región
debe hacer cambios significativos en varios mecanismos que
estimulen el crecimiento económico:
vv Emprendimiento y Empresas Pequeñas – La región
tiene una fuerte constitución en emprendimiento
con programas colaborativos entre las universidades
y negocios. Como parte de una estrategia de
transformación para re-energizar la economía de la
región se invertirá más en los esfuerzos para apoyar
un desarrollo exitoso de empresas nuevas, incluyendo
desarrollos de participación estudiantil.
vv Priorizar Inversión e Innovación, Comercialización,
y Mejoramiento de Procesos - El desenvolvimiento
de productos y servicios nuevos es esencial para el
éxito de negocios en una economía global de rápida
vv Atraer Mayores Acciones
del Mercado Global – El noventa
y cinco por ciento de los
consumidores residen en áreas
fuera de los Estados Unidos.
Mejorar el rendimiento de las
exportaciones es algo crítico para
asegurar el largo plazo competitivo
de la región. Además, empleos
impulsados por la exportación
proveen salarios más altos para los residentes de la
región. Empleos por medio de la exportación proveen
más altos ingresos a los residentes de la región. Además
de promover los productos y servicios del centro de
Nueva York en todo el mundo, la región está en buena
disposición de atraer una nueva inversión extranjera
de compañías internacionales que buscan servir en
mercados domésticos. Más de la mitad de la población
de los Estados Unidos y de Canadá viven a menos de
750 millas de la región y dicha ventaja geográfica se ve
reforzada por los costos relativamente competitivos de
bienes raíces y costos laborales.
vv Edificar Estructura del Siglo XXI - La competitividad
global requiere conectividad. La región debe mejorar su
infraestructura física incluyendo su servicio aéreo, acceso
a los puertos, sus infraestructuras viarias y ferroviarias,
y conectividad y acceso al internet de banda ancha para
mejorar la transportación de sus productos regionales a
mercados nacionales e internacionales.
vv Maximizar el Capital Humano - Aunque la región cuenta
con un personal de trabajadores altamente cualificados,
la región expande su participación de trabajadores en
la nueva economía, particularmente en los sectores
industriales cruciales como el de cuidados de salud y
fabricación avanzada.
ehabilitar los núcleos urbanos de nuestra región:
R
las calles principales y sus barrios
Regiones fuertes se construyen bajo núcleos municipales y
vecindarios sólidos que progresan, unen y retienen el capital
humano y social requerido para que la industria crezca y se
mantenga competitiva: la convergencia de ideas y personas.
Por otra parte, muchos de los negocios eminentes y centros de
industrias principales del sector están localizadas dentro de
estos centros de la ciudad y, las instituciones base de la regióneducativas, de cuidados de salud y culturales- han estado al
frente del movimiento nacional para emplear sus recursos más
significativos en la rehabilitación comunitaria. Sirviéndonos
de los puntos fuertes de estas oportunidades existentes, la
región recreará la estructura física, social y cultural de nuestros
vecindarios, calles principales y núcleos urbanos.
En llevar a cabo nuestro objetivo de invertir y fortalecer los
núcleos de nuestra región, la región:
vv Reconsiderará – Vigorizar los vecindarios y la calles
principales de la región por medio de colaboraciones
mutuamente beneficiosas entre diversas empresas y las
instituciones base de la región, e invertir los recursos
que aprovechen el movimiento nacional de instituciones
base (educativas, de cuidados de salud y culturales) para
restaurar los vecindarios, capacitar nuevos trabajadores,
retener el talento joven, y crear negocios pequeños y
empresas sociales.
vv Reutilizar- Nuestros centros municipales representan
una inversión significativa en la infraestructura física que
debe ser preservada y mejorada para crecimiento futuro.
Nosotros seguiremos llevando a cabo una estrategia
que reutilice los recursos físicos ya existentes a través
de adaptación a nuevos usos y remediación en zonas
industriales abandonadas, enlazando la inversión para
planes de transportación con desarrollo privado del área
a través de estrategias orientadas a transito usando
tecnología verde para mejorar la eficiencia de los recursos
existentes de cada edificio en vecindarios enteros,
promoviendo la densidad en desarrollo y alentando la
calidad comunitaria.
vv Recapacitar- El capital humano y social es el atractivo
más importante para alcanzar una economía competitiva
global, y nuestra región debe enfrentar el desafío
mejorando el rendimiento educativo (k-20), preparando
estudiantes para diferentes profesiones, proveyendo
oportunidades de recapacitación a trabajadores que
están cambiando de carrera, apoyando a minorías,
mujeres y negocios de propietarios veteranos, y creando
buena calidad de oportunidades de empleos que le
permitan al individuo y a familias prosperar.
Alineando Estrategias para un Futuro Sostenible en el
Mercado Global
Estos tres objetivos prioritarios son la base de enfoque
disciplinario para lograr nuestra visión equitativa y
sostenibilidad prospera. La naturaleza holística de la estrategia
de la región marcará la diferencia del Centro de Nueva York de
sus colegas, es que nosotros damos paso a nuestra diversidad
económica y social como punto de centro para nuestro éxito
futuro. La región permitirá el crecimiento y la intersección entre
las industrias seleccionadas ya establecidas permitiéndoles
invertir simultáneamente en sus comunidades y residentes en
maneras que les permita adquirir competitividad global a largo
plazo.
Por lo tanto, los proyectos descritos en este plan
estratégico del centro de Nueva York tratan de tres objetivos
prioritarios esbozados previamente. Ellos representan
innovación y emprendimiento empresarial no solo dentro de
las industrias que representan sino también emplearse como
empresas sociales que contribuyen a la transformación de
nuestros vecindarios y núcleos urbanos de maneras que hacen
la región más competitiva globalmente. Ellos se basan en la
colaboración- no solo en manejar las posesiones económicas
que estimulan su desarrollo, sino en agencias públicas,
instituciones base y en entidades de desarrollo económico
que manejan la asociación pública. Ellos también promueven
la integración trascendental- no solo en las ideas y procesos
que inicien el desarrollo y la distribución de productos y
servicios, más bien en las familias del Centro de Nueva York,
instituciones culturales y negocios que inter-dependan una
de la otra. Colectivamente, estos proyectos representan
inversiones que maximizan el bienestar público que nosotros
imaginamos como nuestra región y, establecen una fundación
de prosperidad evolucionaria en todo el Centro de Nueva York.
Para implementar los proyectos prioritarios de la región,
el concilio ha desarrollado planes para implementación de
18-meses a 5 años para: informar al concilio y a la comunidad
sobre el progreso del plan; dar seguimiento a proyectos
prioritarios, iniciativas y fechas críticas para completar
proyectos; y mantener visible el proceso de participación
pública. Estas herramientas de participación proveen para la
inclusión de iniciativas actuales y futuras, Inter regionales,
tal como el plan de negocio de Brookings Metropolitan e
iniciativas de exportación de Metropolitan y asegurar una
plataforma común para comunicaciones, evaluación de
desempeño, y participación pública. Es la intención del
concilio que las implementaciones exitosas de las estrategias,
tácticas, y proyectos descritas en este plan resultarán en lo
siguiente:
• La creación y retención de trabajos con sueldos altos
en los sectores de industrias vitales en nuestra región.
• Incremento en los logros educacionales de la región
a través de programas como Dile Sí a la Educación.
• El crecimiento de nuevos negocios, especialmente en
los sectores que este plan indica como las fuerzas de
nuestra región
• Reforzar innovaciones ya robustas y investigación
y desarrollo (por sus siglas en inglés R&D) a través
de mas aplicaciones para patentes y costos de
investigación
• Doblar la actividad de exportación de la región a
mercados globales
• Incremento en los impuestos de venta en la región
incitado por el crecimiento de lo que gastan los
visitantes.
• Mantener competitiva y con precio asequible
la vivienda, densidad de trabajo, acceso a
transportación y tasa de ocupación de negocios en
el distrito central
11
12
Siguiente Pasos para Crear una Fundación Sólida para una
Prosperidad Transformativa
Por lo tanto, este plan estratégico mayormente se enfoca
en oportunidades inmediatas de financiamiento para crear
alianzas con el Estado Nueva York, no estaría completo sin
tratar las oportunidades de proyectos, programas y otras
oportunidades actuales que son críticas para la transformación
de la región.
A través de una asociación estratégica con el Instituto
Brookings, se han identificado cuatro recomendaciones de
nuestro mercado cuales representan nuestros objetivos,
ventajas y colaboraciones, a su vez edificando una fundación
sólida para el desarrollo económico según nos movemos
hacia delante: grupos industriales de la región; conectando
personas, trabajos y vivienda; alineación en el cuerpo laboral; y
una infraestructura innovadora. Entre estas recomendaciones
de desarrollo el CNY REDC ha identificado varias iniciativas
transformadoras y proyectos que tendrán un impacto catalítico
en la futura prosperidad de nuestra región. Aunque disponible
al momento, fondos capitales del estado y fondos a través de
créditos de impuestos no pueden ser extendidos para apoyar
estas iniciativas por motivos de restricciones de fondos, nos
sentimos totalmente inclinados a mantener estas iniciativas
como foco para nuestra comunidad y que se conviertan en
una prioridad para el Estado de Nueva York si nuestra visión
regional es de ser lograda completamente.
Proyectos de transformación incluyen:
vv Grupos Industriales de la Región
Campos Industriales Innovadores de Energía Regional
New York (por sus siglas en ingles NYE-RIC)
NYE-RIC, es una alianza a través del estado que
se enfoca en acelerar el desarrollo y despliegue
de innovación para una mejoría dramática en la
eficiencia de energía en edificios, manejando una
demanda global en un mercado del cual se espera
un crecimiento dramático durante las próximas
décadas Como un modelo nacional para revitalizar
comunidades enmohecidas NYE-RIC desarrollara
R&D y ventajas de la manufactura avanzada en el
Norte de Nueva York , al igual que desarrollara una
fortaleza financiera excepcional, medios, y bienes
raíces en el área metropolitana de la ciudad de Nueva
York. La inversión cual se propone de $225 millones,
incluyendo $150 millones de recursos federales y
privados, catalizados por $75 millones provenientes
de múltiples recursos en el Estado de Nueva York ,
resultaran en la creación de miles de empleos en las
áreas de iniciativas verdes / economía-limpia.
Programación de Mercadeo de Comestibles y
Agricultura
Nueva York Central está extraordinariamente
equilibrado para ser la casa de la agricultura de Nueva
York si puede coordinar sus recursos naturales y de
agricultura para crear sistemas más robustos para
alimentos locales y para mercadear la iniciativa y
producción de energía regionales.
Turismo en las Artes y la Cultura
Nuestra región tiene oportunidades abundantes en las
artes y cultura, ofrece calidad mundial desde artistas
con estudios individuales a grandes escenarios y
producciones. Tenemos que accesar audiencias más
amplias e identificar maneras de establecer apoyo e
inversión de la comunidad para que la s artes alcancen
mercados nacionales e internacionales.
Proyecto Cumbre
Una firma millonaria - fortune 1,000 - esta
considerando una expansión en múltiples regiones en
el norte del estado de Nueva York con el potencial de
generar más de 1,000 empleos. Para lograr acomodar
este anticipado crecimiento el proyecto comprometerá
instituciones universitarias a través de internados,
desarrollo de currículo, y oportunidades de empleo
para cumplir con la demanda de la fuerza laboral.
vv Conectando Personas, Trabajos, y Viviendas
Programa de Inversión Uso-Mixto en Municipalidades
El programa Restauración Nueva York fue uno con
éxito que proveyó apoyo financiero a proyectos de
Uso-Mixto de diferente volumen a través del estado.
El programa probó ser de utilidad crítica en lograr
movimiento en el área de construcción comercial y
residencial en las municipalidades de Nueva York
Central. El Estado de Nueva York tiene que considerar
la creación de programas similares para inversión de
uso mixto.
Conectividad/ Infraestructura Banda ancha
En un mercado cada vez más interconectado, la alta
velocidad tiene que estar presente, acceso económico
al Internet banda ancha es un componente esencial
para economías prosperas tanto en comunidades
urbanas como en rurales. Las áreas rurales necesitan
estrategia que apoyen inversión en banda ancha para
conectar a sus ciudadanos unos con otros y a una
mas amplia economía. En nuestros centros urbanos,
instituciones grandes fuerzan costos competitivos,
CNY REDC – Lo que
Esperamos de Destinatarios
de Fondos
Para maximizar el valor
de fondos del Estado de
Nueva York, el CNY REDC
fuertemente exhorta
aquellos que reciben fondos
a través de este proceso a:
pero compañías e instituciones mas pequeñas
continúan en desventaja. Liderazgo del estado puede
abrir oportunidades para desarrollar un mejor y más
inclusivo ecosistema de banda ancha.
Región - Estrategia de Revitalización de Puertos
Para abrir su potencial económico, el Estado de Nueva
York puede ser un líder en el desarrollo de programas
de líneas de costa enfocados en las inversiones
municipales de revitalización, mercadeo, contratación
de negocio y exportación.
vv Alineamiento de la Fuerza Laboral
Dile Sí a la Educación
Es en Syracuse cuando por primera vez es puesto
en práctica en todo un distrito escolar, ¨Dile Sí a la
Educación¨, está equilibrado para ser visionario y está
a punto de convertirse en el modelo de respuesta
para el problema de educación y el desarrollo
económico en los centros urbanos de toda la nación.
El estado de Nueva tiene que ayudar a expandir la
academia de verano Dile Sí en todas la regiones de
los cinco condados y proveer más oportunidades de
becas para adelantar a nuestros jóvenes aspirantes.
vv Innovación de Infraestructura
Fondos – Innovando el Norte del Estado
El centro de Nueva York tiene un robusto ecosistema
de innovación a través del R &D (por sus siglas
en inglés R&D) en las instituciones académicas y
una infraestructura de apoyo fuerte que acelera el
desarollo de las compañías en etapas tempranas.
Sin embargo, el estado no tiene una continuidad
para financiamientos de programas ni exenciones de
impuestos para ayudar a nuevas empresas en sectores
de tecnología. Las alianzas privadas e institucionales
de la región están trabajando para capitalizar en
proyectos de riesgo aun así crítico para acelerar el
lanzamiento y crecimiento de nuevas compañías.
1. Reinvertir en la
comunidad – Reinvertir
algún por ciento de los
fondos del proyecto
en fondos giratorios
comunitarios para generar
avance adicional de
nuestras oportunidades de
transformación colectiva.
De esta manera, Nueva
York Central pudiera estabilizar inversiones limitadas
del sector público, y alimentar fondos sostenidos
para aportar al desarrollo de las artes, investigación,
innovación, rendimiento educativo (k-20), y la inclusión
de arte pública e infraestructura verde en nuestros
espacios públicos, entre otras prioridades.
2. Uso de Labor Local - CNY REDC exhorta, al máximo
siempre y cuando sea práctico, el uso de labor local,
ambos uniones y no–uniones para realizar proyectos
con fondos a través del Concilio regional. También los
exhortamos a seleccionar licitadores responsables,
aquellos que reciben fondos a través del concilio se les
exigirá reportar al sobre la utilización de labor local y
costos al terminar sus proyectos
3. Utilizar Minorías, Negocios Propios de Mujeres y
Veteranos - El CNY REDC reconoce la importancia
crítica de empresas de minorías, mujeres y veteranos,
y fuertemente apoya la continua capacidad de
crecimiento de estas empresas. El Concilio también
exhorta, a su máxima capacidad siempre y cuando
sea práctico, el uso de MWBEs (por sus siglas en
inglés MWBEs) que excede los existentes estatutos
para completar proyectos que son financiados por el
Concilio Regional. Es nuestra intención trabajar con
auspiciadores de proyectos y MWBEs (por sus siglas en
inglés MWBEs) para facilitar conexiones significativas
de negocios que puedas asistir a alcanzar estas metas.
Destinatarios a los fondos, se les exigirá reportar sobre
la utilización de labor local y costos al terminar sus
proyectos.
Al invertir en estas estrategias a largo plazo, y comenzando
con los proyectos que tienen prioridad y tácticas descritas en
este plan de estrategia. Nueva York Central está construyendo
en una base transformadora con prosperidad sostenible y hacia
el futuro. l
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14
Regional
Assessment
of Existing Conditions and
Economic Opportunities
CENTRAL NEW YORK DEMOGRAPHICS & ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT
Counties: Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, and Oswego
Square Miles:
3,582
Population:
791.939 (2010 Census)
Total Jobs:
359,900 (NYS Department of Labor, 2011)
Gross Metropolitan Product:
$32.4 Billion (Moodys, 2009)
Unemployment: 7.8% (NYS Department of Labor, 2011)
C
entral New York’s current and future economic outlook
is defined by a focus on innovation, a growing diversity
of occupational and industry concentrations, and a
track record of collaboration that has improved the region’s
adaptability to fluctuating markets and economic conditions.
Though Central New York was hit hard by the economic
recessions of the early 1990s and late 2000s, the region has
outperformed much of the state and nation on a number of
indicators (e.g. its relatively low unemployment rate). The
region now boasts a diversity of strong industry clusters
mixed between knowledge-oriented services and advanced
manufacturing products.
As a response to the closing of large manufacturing
facilities, including General Motors, Carrier, Magna Powertrain,
Buckbee Mears, Nestle, Miller Brewing, and Bombardier,
Central New York has purposefully restructured its economic
development efforts to prioritize innovation, both in the
Regional Terms
• Central New York (CNY) or “the region” — Cayuga, Cortland,
Madison, Onondaga, and Oswego counties
• Central Upstate Region — Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga,
and Oswego counties, plus Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, St.
Lawrence, Seneca, and Tomkins counties
• Syracuse or City of Syracuse — municipality of Syracuse
• Syracuse MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area, U.S. Census Bureau) —
Onondaga, Oswego, and Madison counties
transformation of legacy businesses and industries as well as in
the development of new products and new ventures.
The region has looked to leverage its large student
population by placing new emphasis on the retention
and attraction of young talent to the region. Colleges and
universities have encouraged student entrepreneurship
and have partnered with local young professional groups
to encourage civic engagement, a response to decades of
sustained population loss and brain drain.
In response to dramatically low high school graduation rates
in the region’s urban school districts, local stakeholders from
education, government, and private business have partnered
with Say Yes to Education Inc. to create comprehensive support
initiatives that are becoming nationally recognized models.
The region’s communities have prioritized the revitalization
of historic and underutilized spaces into mixed use
development corridors; sought to rebuild density in central
business districts, including downtowns and village centers;
and championed renewed investments in public spaces while
embracing a vision of total community prosperity.
Efforts to move the region’s economic well-being firmly
into the 21st century have been significant and have attracted
national attention. The region has partnered with national
foundations and think tanks, including CEOs for Cities, the
Ford Foundation, the Brookings Institution, the Kauffman
Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey
Foundation. These collaborations with these foundations
2.0 | regional assessment
and national experts are working to grow wealth, wages, and
population.
In developing a regional economic development plan for
the next five years, Central New York recognizes the following
assets and conditions as key components of its economic
development strategy, while acknowledging those areas that
require further attention to alleviate barriers to economic
growth.
2.1 Existing Conditions: Primary Assets
2.2Economic Development Opportunities
to college professors), medical services, engineering, electronic
services, and insurance (Catalytix, 2003).
The Battelle Memorial Institute’s 2011 analysis of Central
New York’s five-county region shows that among our strongest
emerging industry clusters are research and engineering
services, which had employment growth of 35 percent
between 2001 and 2009, and software and Internet services,
which grew by 9.2 percent for the same time period.
Specifically, both established and growing economic
industry sectors in the region include:
a. Clean Energy and Environmental Systems
b. Health, Biomedical Services, and Biosciences
Economic Diversity Across Occupational
and Industry Clusters
c. Financial Services
Central New York’s approach to crafting a regional economic
development strategy has used both occupational and industry
clusters as a basis for analysis. Industrial clusters indicate
the growth rate of an industry within the region, and how
competitive the resources of the region are to support that
industry. Occupational clusters do a better job of identifying
the core competencies of the employment base within the
region, and can provide a snapshot of the strength of the
labor supply and its ability to support business growth and
attraction. Both are valid approaches to analyzing the region
and an analysis of both indicates that Central New York has
particularly diverse strengths in both specific industries and
specific occupations.
The region’s most significant occupational clusters are
knowledge/learning (28,200 employees, from school teachers
e. Advanced Manufacturing
The region boasts
a diversity of
industries, from
knowledgebased services
to advanced
manufacturing
products.
Operators at the Novelis manufacturing plant in Oswego.
Courtesy of Novelis
d. Agribusiness and Food Processing
f.
Tourism
Clean Energy and Environmental Systems
Central New York has a well-established regional
innovation cluster in Clean Energy and Environmental
Systems (CEES) that is poised to emerge as an
international leader in research, development,
deployment, and exporting of products and services that
address critical global challenges. The CEES cluster is
the cornerstone of the region’s broader clean economy,
which includes more than 10,000 jobs and ranks eighth
out of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas
in concentration of green jobs in the private sector
(Brookings1, 2011).
15
16
In CNY, the
Clean Energy and
Environmental
Systems cluster
engages a
variety of firms,
institutions, and
organizations.
counties that have longstanding commitments to
promoting sustainable use of materials and natural
resources.
The region’s CEES cluster has outstanding capabilities
in multiple areas, including:
vGreen Building Energy and Environmental Systems:
Products and services that improve energy efficiency
and indoor environmental quality in green buildings.
vBiomass Thermal Energy Systems: Technologies
and services (including supply chains of raw
materials from local sources) that utilize woody
biomass to produce thermal energy.
vClean and Renewable Energy: Advancements that
reduce emissions from fossil fuels, and deployment
of solar and wind technologies to produce power
from local sources.
vWater Resources: Systems that leverage regional
strengths in green infrastructure, wastewater
treatment, drinking water supply, remediation of
polluted water bodies, and access to abundant
qualities of fresh water.
vControlled Environment Agriculture: Systems that
King+King Architects transformed a former factory into its new LEED Platinum
headquarters, the highest level of green building certification.
Courtesy King+King Architects
combine regional strengths in building technologies
and agriculture to provide food security, locally
grown protein and vegetables, reduction in
carbon footprint, renewable energy, and carbon
sequestration.
vNuclear Energy: CNY is one of only three regions
CEES includes multiple technologies and innovations
that operate together as integrated systems, including
supply chains of raw materials from local sources. The
five-county CNY region has been home to innovators and
entrepreneurs who have developed pioneering advances
in several key CEES market sectors, including:
Central New York’s capabilities in CEES are evidenced
by a broad diversity of large and small firms that are
working in the areas of:
vHeating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)
vHVAC and Building Systems Controls: Air
vWater resources, including drinking water supply
and wastewater treatment
vIndoor and outdoor air quality
vEnergy production from renewable sources,
including biomass and wind
vSustainable materials management
Since 1996, Central New York firms and institutions
have collaborated to develop and implement innovations
and best practices in this field, including building
unique infrastructure for research and development and
active channels for industry-university collaborations.
Today, CEES is a vibrant cluster that engages a broad
variety of synergistic and complementary firms,
institutions, and organizations—including biosciences,
manufacturing, engineering, architecture, construction,
and transportation firms; farms; the region’s colleges
and universities; and its innovative municipalities and
in New York State with nuclear power plants, which
have the potential to be an important strategic asset,
depending on state and federal energy policies.
Innovations, Bitzer Scroll, Carrier, Fulton Companies,
Haledyne, Indoor Controls, Intertek, Collabworx,
McQuay, NuClimate Air Quality Systems, Propulsive
Wing, SenSyr, among others
vGreen Architecture and Construction Services:
Arcadis, Agora Group, Ashley-McGraw Architects,
C&S Companies, GHD, King+King Architects,
Northeast Green Building Consulting, Open Atelier,
VIP Structures, among others
vAir and Water Purification Technologies: Inficon,
Orthosystems, Pall Corporation, Source Sentinel,
among others
vProfessional Environmental Services: O’Brien &
Gere, Natural Systems Engineering, SRC, among
others
vProfessional Energy Services: CDH Energy, Warner
Energy, among others
vAcademic and Research Institutions: Cayuga
Community College, Morrisville State College,
Onondaga Community College, SUNY College of
Environmental Science and Forestry, SUNY Oswego,
SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse
University, Tompkins Cortland Community College,
among others
Central New York’s CEES firms and institutions have
collaborated to advance this cluster as a key element
of previous regional economic development plans,
including Vision 2010 and the Essential New York Initiative.
Accomplishments to date include:
vEstablished collaborative enterprises to accelerate
CEES innovations: New York Indoor Environmental
Quality Center, Inc. (2001); Environmental Quality
Systems STAR Center (2001); Syracuse Center of
Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems
(2002); and The Clean Tech Center (2009). To date,
these enterprises have engaged more than 200
firms and institutions and attracted more than $100
million in state and federal funding to the region.
vRecruited six companies to the region: Agora Group
(from Virginia), Bitzer Scroll (Germany), Haledyne
(Ohio), Open Atelier (California), ProTerra LED
(Canada), and SunEnergy Europe (Germany). These
companies currently employ 100 and plan to grow to
employ 500.
vAssisted existing companies to develop new
products and services: Air Innovations HEPAiRx
ventilating room air purifier), Collabworx (building
energy and environmental control software),
NuClimate (Q Air Terminal energy-efficient HVAC
system), O’Brien & Gere (air quality systems
integration innovations), Orthosystems (sensors for
water quality).
vSupported the launching of new companies: Antek,
e2e Materials, Indoor Controls, SenSyr, Source
Sentinel, SynairCo, Propulsive Wing.
vCommercialized innovative technologies: Propulsive
Wing (personal air filtration system) has created
more than 100 jobs locally to date through tech
commercialization.
vCreated unique resources for research,
development, and demonstration: SyracuseCoE’s
headquarters, a globally unique facility for CEES
research, development and demonstration.
The world’s most energy-efficient data center, a
partnership between Syracuse University and IBM
that includes a unique gas-fired integrated system that
generates electricity (both AC and DC), cooling and hot
water.
A national testbed for building envelope systems
technologies.
vEarned national and international recognition:
o Hosted the International Society for Indoor Air
Quality and Climate’s Ninth International Healthy
Buildings Conference in 2009, attracting 1,700
participants from 44 nations.
o The Clean Tech Center operated by CenterState CEO
was named sixth on a top-10 list of “the world’s best
cleantech cluster organizations” in 2010.
o SyracuseCoE received a leadership award from the
U.S. Green Building Council in 2010.
o Building on a well-known record of multiple
communities across Central New York, Onondaga
County and the City of Syracuse were recognized by
the U.S. EPA in 2011 as one the nation’s leaders in
implementing innovations in “green infrastructure.”
Health, Biomedical Services, and Biosciences
Health and Biomedical Services
Due to the United States’ aging population, advances in
medical technologies, and increased life expectancies,
employment in the health service industry is projected
to increase 26 percent through 2014, compared to 13
percent for all industries. According to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics, the health care and social services
industry is one of the largest industries in the country
with 18.5 million jobs projected for 2014. This is an
increase of 4.3 million jobs in 10 years. Overall the health
care industry is projected to be one of the fastestgrowing industries and it is expected to account for one
out of every five jobs created by 2014.
Central New York holds a unique set of health care
assets, including a large number of acclaimed health care
institutions, high quality academic medical and nursing
colleges, global bioscience and medical technology
companies, and several prestigious higher education
institutions with significant research capability. There
are close to 1,500 physicians in Onondaga County alone.
Throughtout Central New York, 427 private physician
practices were responsible for $1 billion in employment
of 5,947 physicians and staff members. The region’s
hospitals generate $3.1 billion in economic activity.
According to Battelle (2011), the health sector, which
includes hospitals and health services, has been a strong
and steady national growth sector in recent years, adding
such jobs as scientists, medical/clinical lab techs, and
science techs, through the depths of the recession. Central
New York has seen similar gains, growing by 16.2 percent
from 2001 to 2009 while the nation grew 15.3 percent.
While the sector is considered to be locally oriented
and service-based, the fact that it enjoys a 13 percent
higher level of concentration in the region when compared
nationally demonstrates its ability to serve patients
outside of Central New York, bringing new wealth into
the region. Moreover, “its role as a major job driver in
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18
Biosciences are
a major driver
for research and
innovation in
CNY, impacting
several core
industry clusters.
Golisano Children’s Hospital, an expansion of Upstate Medical University in Syracuse
recent years cannot be ignored. Both major components
of the regional cluster have seen steady strong job
gains—hospitals have added more than 1,600 jobs since
2001 and outpatient and residential health services have
added more than 1,200 jobs locally.” Battelle (2011)
estimates that in 2009 this cluster employed 20,413
people in the region. Additionally, hospitals, nursing
homes, and physician offices tend to cluster in central
cities throughout the region, and provide a growing
job base conveniently located to inner city residents.
In Syracuse alone, recent and ongoing construction at
Crouse Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center,
SUNY Upstate Medical University, and the Veterans
Administration Medical Center exceeds $500 million.
This has provided significant construction employment
through the recession and recovery. In addition, health is
one of the clusters that experienced double digit growth in
real wage rates over the time period, with a 21.4 percent
increase in the region (Battelle, 2011).
Biosciences
The biosciences cluster consists of highly specialized
firms primarily engaged in biotechnology and life
sciences research and development, biomedical services,
pharmaceutical manufacturing, the manufacturing
of analytical instruments and medical devices, and
research, testing, and medical laboratories. In 2011,
Battelle reported that the five-county region has 4,384
jobs in this cluster, and a location quotient of 1.41. Battelle
also noted that biosciences are the number one R&D
cluster for the region’s academic institutions (Colgate,
SUNY Cortland, SUNY College of Environmental Science
and Forestry, SUNY Oswego, SUNY Upstate Medical
University, and Syracuse University).
CNY has a foundation to grow as a leading national
and international health and bioscience cluster, as
evidenced by:
• Industry
o World-class leader in medical diagnostics
devices and biologic pharmaceuticals, such as
Welch Allyn and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
o Leading companies whose products and
technologies support the bioscience industry,
such as Pall Corporation, Biospherix, Modular
BioPharm Systems, and AMRI.
o Companies that have become leaders in their
fields, such as Infimed, Volpe USA, Global
Instrumentation, Rondaxe, Acrolite, Intersurgical,
and Glottal Enterprises.
o Smaller companies that are positioned to grow,
such as Blue Highway, OrthoSystems, and
AptaMetrix.
• Universities
o SUNY Campuses: Cayuga, Cortland, ESF,
Morrisville, Onondaga, Oswego, Tompkins
Cortland, and Upstate Medical University.
o Syracuse University and Le Moyne College,
as well as schools in nearby regions that have
collaborative interests in bioscience: SUNY IT,
Cornell and Clarkson.
• Local centers, institutions, and partnerships
o Upstate Cancer Research Institute, Syracuse
Biomaterials Institute, and the newly proposed,
Trudeau-Upstate Center for Global Health and
Translational Science.
o Anticipated completion of the bio-incubator,
CNY Biotechnology Research Center.
o MedTech, the hub of the bioscience and medical
technology industry in Upstate New York.
o Recent public/private partnerships confirming
the region’s commitment to biosciences (e.g.,
recent transfer of Blue Highway from Welch
Allyn to Syracuse University.
In addition to the assets listed above, the biosciences
are a vital cluster in supporting other assets and
economic activities associated with other targeted
industry clusters described in this plan, in particular,
clean energy and environmental systems, agribusiness,
and advanced manufacturing.
Financial Services
The five-county region is an ideal location for large
and midsize financial service companies to locate back
office processing, customer service, and cybersecurity
monitoring facilities. The primary drivers of this
proposition, developed in consultation with Moran,
Stahl & Boyer, with respect to site location in CNY are
the availability of (1) a stable, efficient, trained, and
affordable work force that is constantly replenished
by the presence of many universities and colleges, (2)
the immediate availability of relatively inexpensive real
estate, (3) a strong telecommunications backbone in the
urban centers in the region, (4) a relatively low cost of
living and related high quality of life that includes good
schools and short commutes, as well as (5) a location in
the Eastern Time Zone of the United States that is close
to the headquarters of many of the potential financial
service companies who would choose to site operations
in the region.
Some of the largest financial service companies
in the country have already elected to site parts
of their traditional backroom functions, including
processing and call center activity, in Central New York.
They include AXA/Equitable, BNY Mellon, Travelers,
Wellpoint, and Excellus and its affiliates. Moreover
certain locally headquartered insurance and third-party
administrators have located their processing functions in
the region, including POMCO and Peerless Insurance. In
addition, JPMorgan Chase has partnered with Syracuse
University to establish a $30 million commitment
to conduct cybersecurity monitoring of its various
electronic platforms and create the next generation of
global enterprise technology. This industry can build
off the successful history of these large and successful
companies that already have established sites in the
region.
Central New York has experienced several recent
success stories, including the relocation of 300
employees by AXA from New Jersey to Syracuse, and
the rapid growth of BNY Mellon, which has created more
than 1,100 jobs in the region in less than a decade. This
provides evidence, beyond the studies, of the ability of
this region to attract and support jobs from other parts of
the Northeast.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a burgeoning field that encompasses
consumer privacy, access provisioning, and identity
management and application security. Each of these
areas requires similar skill sets to many traditional
service center processing center applications, and makes
the siting of cybersecurity operations a parallel analysis
to the traditional service center siting process. However,
cybersecurity operations do not need to co-locate with
the business to function. Like financial services, the
region is uniquely positioned to support cybersecurity
operations given its existing trained workforce,
telecommunications infrastructure, and low cost of living
and high quality of life for professionals.
Educational institutions located in or adjacent to the
region already have existing cybersecurity programs and
research:
Binghamton University
Cornell University
Le Moyne College
Rochester Institute of
Technology
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY Geneseo
SUNY Institute of
Technology Utica/Rome
SUNY Oneonta
Syracuse University
University of Rochester
Utica College
In addition, the establishment of the JPMorgan
Chase Technology Center on the Syracuse University
Campus in 2007 laid the groundwork for developing
customized cybersecurity technology and the training
of technologists in a live private sector business
environment. Today, JPMorgan Chase performs mission
critical functions, such as security monitoring, identity
and access control, and risk assessment for its worldwide
operations from the center. This experience can be
leveraged by other companies looking for cost-efficient
sites to conduct cybersecurity functions.
Insurance
Batelle (2011) identified the insurance industry as a
significant subcluster within financial services and
insurance. This cluster with 8,533 regional jobs is in a
concentration that is 57 percent greater than the nation.
The average wage in the insurance cluster is $58,543
(2009), which is substantially above the average
wage for the region. The average wage in this cluster
has grown by 10.4 percent between 2001 and 2009,
outperforming the national average and far outpacing the
region’s wage growth over that same period, which was
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20
2.7 percent between 2009 and 2011 (2011). Insurance
also demonstrates an above average productivity level
compared to the United States.
There is also a growing linkage between the
insurance industry and the area’s academic institutions.
In recent years both SUNY Oswego and Utica College
have established degree programs in business with
a concentration in risk management to support the
industry upstate. Until these two new curriculums
were approved, the only other college in the state to
offer a program in risk management was the College of
Insurance in New York City.
Agribusiness and Food Processing
According to the 2007 U.S. Census of Agriculture
(available from the USDA National Statistics Service),
New York is:
• 2nd largest producer of corn for silage
• 3rd largest fluid milk producer in the country
• 5th largest producer of equine animals
• 6th largest producer of fruits, tree nuts, berries
• 7th largest producer of Christmas trees
• 8th largest producer of vegetables for market
As such, Central New York is uniquely poised to be
the “hub” of New York agribusiness. The region, like the
rest of New York State, has a very diverse agriculture
and food system. There is a wide array of commodity
and specialty crops produced here, along with milk, meat
animals, poultry and eggs, forestry, and ornamental
horticulture. For example, Central New York’s mucklands
give the region unique commercial crops, such as onions
and lettuce; the warmth of Lake Ontario produces the
fruit-belt; and we are the home of the “Great New York
State Fair” and the New York Farm Show. This industry is
strong and seeing steadily increasing demand for dairy
products, animal feedstocks, and feedstocks for the
growing biofuels industry.
Additionally, agribusiness is a significant rural
employer with both large and small entrepreneurial
enterprises.
There are several key institutions that make the
agriculture and food sector crucial to Central New York’s
economy and economic development strategies. Higher
CJS Vineyard
Photo by Kristian Reynolds | Courtesy of Cayuga County Tourism
education programs at Morrisville State College are very
important to the sector. Morrisville leads the state in
many innovative agriculture technology demonstrations.
The college and its students participate in several
programs that offer experiential learning in agritourism,
marketing, entrepreneurship, and value-added
agriculture, such as Nelson Farms and the New York
Equine Testing Facility in Madison County’s Equine Alley.
Likewise, Cornell University, and indirectly via the Cornell
Cooperative Extension, continues to support production
agriculture education outreach, and is crucial to rural
and urban health and wellness support programs. Each
of the five counties hosts a Cooperative Extension office.
And, Cornell is responsible for delivering Market Maker
software to New York State, a very deep and broad
database that provides critical supply chain information
for food systems.
Food and agriculture private sector organizations
and cooperatives in Central New York are also key
actors in the region’s agribusiness economy. Most
notably is Dairylea Cooperative, Inc. The largest dairy
cooperative in the Northeast United States, Dairylea is a
strong affiliate to the nation’s largest dairy cooperative,
Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. Unlike other regions,
Central New York has resources to address many supply
chain partners, like the Oswego Vegetable Growers
cooperative. And there are incredibly strong regional
producers and food companies, such as Byrne Dairy,
Gianelli Sausage, New York Baking Company, and
many others. HP Hood in Oneida is the nation’s largest
producer of eggnog.
There are many great food distribution and related
companies in CNY—like G&C Distributors, Sysco, and
Cavallaro/River Valley—that continue to expand and add
jobs. Though not contained exclusively in this cluster,
transportation and logistics in the region as a whole
have continued to grow and are up nearly 6 percent
since 2001. Further, due to the region’s history in food
processing, quality food grade processing infrastructure
exists in communities like Fulton, New York, with facilities
formerly occupied by Birds Eye and Nestle.
The Central New York region also has vast working
landscapes in support of its agriculture and forest
industrial sectors. From the Tug Hill to Tully Valley,
the region’s natural resources have a long history of
production and employment. While industrial trends
have changed over time, these sectors continue to
provide economic opportunity for the region and state as
a whole. The vast majority of this working landscape is in
private ownership. To remain viable, strategies, policies,
and programs are necessary to assist landowners in
retaining these landscapes, and to support agriculture
and forest-related economies. Through tax policy and
land conservation efforts, including working landscape
easements, the region can retain these economic sectors
and a landscape character that is valuable to residents of
the region.
New York is the
eighth largest
producer of
vegetables for
market.
Courtesy of Madison County Tourism
Advanced Manufacturing
According to the Manufacturing Research Institute,
in 2009, manufacturing employed 33,278 people in
Central New York, which generated 17.2 percent of the
private sector wages within the region, for a total of
$1.887 billion. The upstate New York regional economy
is home to more manufacturing jobs as a share of
total employment than New York State as a whole and
somewhat more than the United States. The upstate
New York region’s share of employment in this segment
exceeds the state average by 4 percent and the national
average by 5 percent.
The Advanced Manufacturing cluster includes
Digital and Electronic Devices, Packaging and Precision
Metalworking, and Metals Production and Manufacturing
(as well as portions of Biosciences, Clean Energy and
Environmental Systems, and Agribusiness that are
discussed in other areas of this report).
Digital and Electronic Devices
The Digital and Electronics Devices cluster consists of
both component manufacturers (e.g. semiconductors,
integrated circuits) and end user products (e.g.
computer-based instruments, radar and communications
equipment). In 2011, Battelle noted that the Central New
York region has 7,007 regional jobs and a concentration
that is more than twice that of the nation (its location
quotient is 2.33).
The region’s largest subsectors are navigational
instruments, communications equipment, electronic
components, communications wire and cable, and
electronic controls. Leading firms in our region include
Lockheed Martin, SRC and Saab-Sensis, Anaren,
Eagle Comtronics, and John Mezzalingua Associates.
There is also significant crossover into the energy and
environmental systems area by such firms as Inficon and
International Controls and Measurements (ICM).
Battelle (2011) also noted that “Digital and Electronic
devices grew 6.7 percent from 2001 to 2007 in the fivecounty CNY region, while declining 4.2 percent during
the recession from 2007 to 2009, for an overall growth
rate of 2.2 percent over the entire period. While this on
the surface may not appear to be significant growth, it is
important to keep the national context in mind. During
the same period, the national industry declined by 28.2
percent. During the recession from 2007 to 2009, it
declined an additional 11.5 percent. A leading factor for
this impressive growth for Central New York was the
large Instruments and Electronics subsector, which grew
81.1 percent over the eight-year time period, adding more
than 2,000 regional jobs and leading to a specialization
that is five times as concentrated as the nation. This was
followed closely by the Computer Hardware sector, which
is more modest in size in the region but grew 71 percent
since 2001 while the nation declined by 41.4 percent,
resulting in a concentration of that industry subsector
that is more than 42 percent more specialized than the
nation.”
Battelle (2011) also found that this cluster has been
among the region’s top performers since 2001 as it has
had consistently high average wages and has led all other
clusters in real wage growth in the past decade.
At a time when global markets related to security,
aerospace, and defense continue to grow, the cluster’s
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• The Instruments and Electronics subsector grew 81.1 percent
from 2001 to 2007 and added 2,000 regional jobs. This
specialization is five times as concentrated as the nation.
• The Computer Hardware sector grew 71 percent since 2001
while the nation’s declined by 41.4 percent, resulting in a
concentration of that industry subsector that is more than
42 percent more specialized than the nation.
specific strength serves as a significant opportunity for
continued growth within the region. For instance, the
surveillance equipment market reached $78 billion in
2009 and is expected to be a $139.2 billion market by
2015. In addition, the remote sensing products market
is expected to experience robust growth—$8.2 billion
in 2009 to $11 billion by 2014. Finally the global sensors
market is expected to grow at a Compound Annual
Growth Rate of 7.8 percent to become a $91.5 billion
market by 2016.
Battelle (2011) also identified this sector as one of
the leading generators of patents for the region. The 857
patents “invented and assigned in the five county Central
New York Region, including national class categories with
more than five patents from 2001 through the end of
the second quarter of 2011” (Source: Thomson Reuter’s
Delphion patent analysis data base) were as follows:
Electrical Connectors
139
Electricity: Electrical Systems and Devices
68
Wave Transmission Lines and Networks
37
Electricity: Conductors and Insulators
30
Electricity: Measuring and Testing
22
Electricity: Switches, Magnets, and Electromagnets 7
A total of 303 of the 857 patents attributed to the
region were in the Digital and Electronic Device sector,
representing fully 35 percent of the patenting activity of
the region.
Among the assets in Central New York that support
the industry is the Center for Advanced Systems and
Engineering (CASE) at Syracuse University, which is
a NYSTAR Center for Advanced Technology. CASE
is New York State’s premier applied research center
for interdisciplinary expertise in complex information
intensive systems, including monitoring and control,
predictive analysis, intelligence, security, and assurance.
Among the specialties at the CASE Center are sensor
networks and management, microwave systems and
antenna design, and communications systems and
networks.
Metals Production and Manufacturing
Metals Production and Manufacturing is 71 percent
more concentrated in the Central New York region than
the nation with 4,946 regional jobs (Battelle, 2011).
This industry cluster is composed of such firms as
Feldmeier Equipment, Oberdorfer, Novelis, Crucible, and
Hammond & Irving. While employment in this cluster
has declined 26.4 percent since 2001, this is less than
the decline of this sector for the nation. There are also
two subsectors of this cluster: Nonferrous Metals with
1,735 employees in 2009, which is four times more
concentrated in this region than the nation as a whole,
and Iron and Steel, which employed 1,370 people in
2009, which is 2.35 times more concentrated here than
the nation. On average, CNY employees in this sector are
more productive than those in the nation, delivering 105
percent of national output.
Precision Manufacturing
Precision Manufacturing, a once dominant industry in
the region, has been hard hit by the recession and the
reduction in employment at Magna in East Syracuse.
As recently as 2007, this cluster employed 8,918
people in the region, but has dropped to 3,457 in 2009
(Battelle, 2009). Its location quotient has dropped to
1.13. However, the average wage paid in this industry
($57,835) is considerably above the region’s average
wage ($39,771) and is higher than the national average in
this industry ($53,356) (Battelle, 2011). It is also a cluster
with an above average productivity level, being 6 percent
higher than the national average.
The advanced manufacturing sector in general
tends to align with the region’s top exporting sectors.
A 2011 analysis by the Brookings Institution indicated
that the region’s major export industries are Machinery
Manufacturing, Chemical Manufacturing, Computer
and Electronic Product Manufacturing, Primary
Metal Manufacturing, and Transportation Equipment
Manufacturing.
Tourism
Visitors to the Central New York counties of Cayuga,
Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, and Oswego spent
more than $1 billion in 2009. This spending helped
generate more than $135 million in state and local tax
revenue. This level of travel spending equates to nearly
$442 in tax relief for each household in the five-county
region. Throughout the region, more than 24,000 jobs
are supported by tourism spending. These jobs carry a
payroll of roughly $543 million.
The five counties of the Central New York Regional
Economic Development Council fall into three distinctly
different marketing regions under the State Tourism
Office: the Finger Lakes, 1000 Islands, and Central New
York. Each marketing region offers different outreach
messages and methods, and each county tourism office
engages in marketing, sales, and tourism development
initiatives constructed around product strengths and
identified targeted audiences. Individual tourism
businesses and organizations provide additional outreach
capacity to the area’s overall efforts through marketing,
sales, and promotional attempts.
More than
24,000 jobs are
supported by
tourism spending.
These jobs carry a
payroll of roughly
$543 million.
The Art and Wine Festival in Cortland
Courtesy of Cortland County Tourism
Tourism market segments/core products for the region
vConventions: Tourism business within Central New
York is diverse and varied from conventions and
meetings to leisure to sports-related to personal
business to transient to corporate and business
travel. Although convention attendees spend their
time predominantly in a meeting facility, their impact
is felt by local hotels, restaurants, transportation
providers, and retailers. They are attracted to the
area because of easy transportation access, relative
affordability, a local commitment to customer service,
and popularity.
vSporting Events: Sporting events include both
spectator and participatory sports. In some cases, the
event provides the motivation for the trip (triathlons,
fishing, golf, hunting, hiking, snowmobiling, skiing,
equestrian). In other forms, the sporting event
provides the motivation for an extended stay or
repeat trip (Syracuse University athletics, Syracuse
Chiefs, Auburn Doubledays, New York Jets training
camp, Syracuse Crunch, the International Boxing Hall
of Fame). Spectator sports often can fall into either
category—attractor or attraction.
vLeisure Travel: Leisure travel is the most vital part of
the region’s portfolio. Visitors cite numerous reasons
for leisure trips to Central New York and engage
in a wide variety of activities while on those trips.
Shopping is the top visitor activity throughout the
region with Carousel Center being the primary, but
certainly not the only, retail experience in the region.
Outdoor recreation is abundant with plentiful lakes,
rivers, ski resorts, and both state and local parks. The
region is rich in culinary experiences from wine tours
around Cayuga Lake and the rest of the Finger Lakes,
breweries, farm experiences, and numerous locally
owned, recognized restaurants.
vArts and Culture: The area has a vibrant history of
fostering the arts, and visitors today flock to cultural
offerings, including museums, performances, and
numerous individual artists that turn simple ideas into
intricate works of art for retail or for enjoyment. The
area’s colleges and universities add to the array of
culture and serve also as primary travel destinations
for thousands of students, alumni, friends, and
family. Central New York embodies a history that is
emblematic of the American experience. The region’s
past provides valuable appeal.
vSpecial Events: Special events play a demonstrative
role in attracting visitors to the region, including
everything from sporting events (collegiate sports,
fishing, equestrian, women’s national bowling
championship) to entertainment (concerts, festivals,
national performers) to diverse exhibitions, each
having a significant impact on the tourism industry.
The list of year-round options is virtually endless
and always expanding. Collaborative cultural events,
such as the successful “Turner to Cezanne” exhibition
hosted by the Everson Museum in 2009, produced
community pride while also generating impressive
return on investment.
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New innovation
centers are
driving expanded
research and
construction on
our campuses.
Development of a new Science & Engineering Innovation Corridor is under way at SUNY Oswego.
Photo by Jim Russell ï Courtesy of SUNY Oswego
vHospitality Services: The inns, hotels, and bed and
breakfasts form the most critical infrastructure
component of the tourism industry. These businesses
provide the overnight accommodations for regional
visitors as well as the tax collection point for funding
marketing and product development initiatives.
Transportation access, signage, and affordability are
vital infrastructure components in Central New York.
Special events and sports require competitive, up-todate facilities and the region possesses an extensive
number of both indoor and outdoor venues.
Globally Connected, Highly Educated,
and Adaptable to Changing Market Conditions
The Central New York region possesses a unique mix of
educational assets, a diverse talent base and compelling
community resources that have made it highly adaptable to
changing economic conditions. Those same assets uniquely
position the region to increase its competitiveness at the
local, state, and national levels to generate wealth and jobs
throughout the region, while growing its economy in an
increasingly global marketplace.
vEntrepreneurship & Innovation: It is estimated
that higher education institutions in Central New
York have invested roughly $144 million in research
and development in 2011. From 2001 to 2010,
there were 12,400 patent applications from the
Syracuse MSA; this ranks the region 55th nationally
in intellectual property activity (Battelle, 2011).
Since publishing the Essential NY initiative in 2003,
the region has invested considerable resources in
developing an infrastructure to support innovation
and entrepreneurship. The prioritization of emerging
business support has resulted in:
o Development of Tech Garden (a 33,000 sq. ft.
regional technology incubator/accelerator and
venture development program).
o Creation of The Clean Tech Center (a NYSERDAfunded clean energy incubator).
o Streamlining of small business services through
NYS Small Business Development Center and
delivered through regional SUNY partners at
Onondaga Community College and SUNY
Oswego.
o New innovation centers underway, including the
Central New York Biotechnology Research Center
being developed by Upstate Medical University,
SUNY College of Environmental Science and
Forestry, and the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute
of Syracuse University.
The region is home to some of the top-ranked
entrepreneurial programs in the country, including:
o Higher Education’s collaboration in Enitiative and
the Whitman School of Management, home to the
Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship, the South
Side Innovation Center, and the Entrepreneurship
Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities.
o Syracuse has also gained a national reputation
for inclusive entrepreneurship through such
programs as Start-Up NY (a partnership between
the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse
University and SU’s Burton Blatt Institute), and
pioneering work through SU’s acclaimed Near
Westside Initiative.
o Community-based incubators support
entrepreneurs in Madison County (Morrisville’s
Nelson Farms food incubator) and Cayuga County
(Stardust Entrepreneurial Institute in Auburn).
o The Student Sandbox, a joint venture between The
Tech Garden, Syracuse University, and 14 regional
colleges and universities, is incubating more than
50 student ventures.
o The Central New York Technology Development
Organization’s Small Business Innovation
Research Outreach program has resulted in more
than $200 million of federal research dollars
being awarded to small businesses in the region to
develop and commercialize their research.
vStrong Higher Education Sector: Across our five
CNY counties, there are 13 colleges and universities
enrolling more than 60,000 students. There are 35
colleges and universities with 130,000 students in
the wider, 12-county region. This creates a broad and
deep reserve of intellectual capital and innovative
talent, as well as a highly educated population, with
above average numbers of people with associate’s,
bachelor’s or master’s degrees (39.4 percent in the
Syracuse MSA compared to the national average of
35.4 percent), and the knowledge/learning cluster is
a significant employer.
vExports: The Syracuse MSA produces $3.6
billion in total exports, which is the equivalent of
10 percent of the region’s total production and
supports roughly 30,000 jobs. Of those exports,
roughly 66 percent are manufactured goods and
33 percent are services. Analyses by the Brookings
Institution have proven that industries involved in
exporting pay comparatively high wages. Major
export industries are the following: Machinery
Manufacturing, Chemical Manufacturing, Computer
and Electronic Product Manufacturing, Primary
Metal Manufacturing, and Transportation Equipment
Manufacturing.
vHighly Educated Workforce: CNY’s highly productive
workforce is often cited by regional employers as a
major asset. Output per worker in 2009 was $101,122,
earning CNY a ranking of 21st among the top 100
metropolitan areas in the United States (Brookings,
2011). According to recent analysis from the Brookings
Institution, 22 percent of the regional population
has a bachelor’s degree or higher, where 28 percent
of the Syracuse MSA population has a bachelor’s
degree or higher. Further, the immigrant community in
Central New York was classified by a report from the
Brookings Institution in 2010 to be highly skilled.
vSmall Business: Businesses with less than 100
employees dominate employment in Central New
York. According to the New York State Department
of Labor, 97.3 percent of all firms in Central New York
have less than 100 employees. These firms employ
just over half of all workers in the region.
vMinority Entrepreneurship: The U.S. Census
Bureau reported that the number of minority-owned
businesses increased by 46 percent from 2002 to
2007. These new businesses are creating jobs and
are a significant part of local economic growth. As
one of the fastest growing segments of the small
business community, minority-owned businesses are
essential to strengthening our economy and our state
competitiveness.
Since 2006, Syracuse University’s South Side
Innovation Center has worked with minority
entrepreneurs in providing them with business
incubation, development, education, market access,
and credit assistance, using highly skilled trained
professional counselors.
Distinctive Location Marked by Urban and Rural Diversity
with Strong Municipal Centers at their Cores
The CNY region has five cities, 47 villages, and numerous
additional hamlets and town centers that serve as hubs of
innovation, employment, intellectual capacity, diversity,
creative enterprise, and heritage tourism. Cities contain a
high percentage of the region’s jobs, with 37.7 percent of
the metropolitan area’s jobs located within three miles of
downtown Syracuse. This is the sixth highest density of jobs
among the top 100 metropolitan areas in the United States.
(Brookings, 2009)
vCrossroads of the State: Syracuse is within six
hours of more than 72 million people living in major
metropolitan cities (62 million in the United States
and 10 million in Canada). Fifty major cities are
within 390 miles (42 in the United States and 8 in
Canada). The region has a high-quality road system,
key location at the intersection of I-90 (westeast) and I-81 (north-south), rail access, a major
airport (Hancock International Airport), as well as
many smaller runways, proximity to Lake Ontario
and, through the Port of Oswego, access to the St.
Lawrence Seaway.
vTransit Accessibility: Though representing a region
defined by both urban and rural areas, the Syracuse
MSA ranks 28th in the country in terms of its
transit accessibility (Brookings2, 2011). This means
that roughly 35 percent of workers can reach their
jobs within a reasonable amount of time by public
transit. For a region anchored only by a mid-sized
metropolitan area, Syracuse’s transit accessibility is
comparatively robust.
vEnergy Industry and Surplus: A substantial energyproducing region, with major nuclear and gas firedpower plants, CNY sells its energy surplus throughout
the state. National Grid and NYSEG are two highly
reliable suppliers of electricity and natural gas. The
region is on the northern edge of the Marcellus shale,
and is building a renewable energy industry around
wind, solar power, and biofuels. However, energy
costs in the state are high as compared with the rest
of the nation. This is primarily attributed to the state’s
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Washington
Station represents
a commitment of
CNY companies
to invest in our
urban cores.
Washington Station, Syracuse
use of higher cost environmentally friendly power
generation and high transmission costs to reach low
density areas.
vLand: The area has a large amount of open land
(parks, forest, and agricultural property); as a result,
land prices are relatively low, contributing to the
affordability of housing and of commercial and
industrial sites.
vQuality of Life: Syracuse is one of America’s best
places to raise a family (top five according to Forbes.
com and Yahoo.com) and is one of the top 20
greenest regions in America, according to Popular
Science and National Geographic. The region’s low
crime rates, low overall cost of living, and water
and recreational opportunities are also attractive to
residents (Catalytix, 2003). Coupled with the region’s
relatively low housing cost (less than 30 percent of
homeowners spend a third or more of their income
on expenses related to owning a home), Central New
York is often cited as having a high quality of life.
vWater and Recreational Opportunities: Through
its proximity to the Great Lakes, CNY has access to
21 percent of the world’s freshwater resources—an
increasingly important asset. “From quality and
quantity perspectives, the water position of the
region is well above the benchmark average…many
newer technology manufacturing processes require
access to quality affordable water” (Catalytix, 2003).
Therefore, water is a strength for industry attraction.
It is also an amenity for its wide array of recreational
and sports opportunities, helping with worker
attraction and retention.
vEmerging Urban Core: The central business district
of the region, Downtown Syracuse, has seen
considerable reinvestment and growth in the past
decade. Currently, Commercial and Residential
Occupancy Rates are at 88 percent and 99 percent,
respectively. Further, almost 80 percent of regional
employment is located within 10 miles of downtown.
Residential land-use has been more mixed between
rural and urban/suburban areas with 60 percent of
housing located in areas considered to be urban or
suburban.
xisting Conditions:
2.3 EObstacles
Impeding Economic Growth
While local economic assets abound, major obstacles
impeding economic growth remain:
vHigh Costs of Doing Business: New York State ranked
48th in the nation (CNBC “Cost of Doing Business,”
2011) on factors such as tax burden, income and
property taxes, business taxes (particularly as they
apply to new investments), utility costs, wages, and
office and industrial rental rates.
vBrain Drain: Battelle (2003) states that “The region
continues to lose younger workers, and lack of
diversity may make it difficult to attract and retain
talent,” while Catalytix (2003) noted: “One of the
biggest weaknesses within the region is the drain of
talent that comes to the region for education then
leaves the region after completing that education.
Among the 25 regions benchmarked, the Upstate
region ranks 23rd in the attraction and retention
of the college educated. Further, a University of
Michigan study concluded that between 1990
and 2000, Syracuse lost a greater percentage of
its 18-35 population than any other large metro
area. There is also an explanation for this based on
industry demand. Beyond production workers, the
concentration of employment is lower, on average,
in Central New York across each of the high-skilled
occupational groups, including engineers, scientists,
management, business and financial, computerrelated, and technicians. In addition, the majority of
these groups have not grown in recent years or grown
but not kept pace with the national trend. Lower
concentrations in these occupational groups signal
less capability to drive corporate innovation and hire
younger workers.
vInnovation, Entrepreneurism, and Venture Capital:
CNY has made great strides in addressing this area of
weakness with programs to promote the burgeoning
base of new, technology-oriented companies. The
region is also building stronger ties between major
research institutions and the region’s businesses as
well as seeking a regional structure to create and
strengthen business incubators. However, the level
of venture investment is very low with Central New
York having $27 per capita, as compared with the
U.S. average of $933 available in per capita venture,
while patent applications per 1,000 workers were
significantly below the average for the 100 largest
metro areas (13.5 vs. 25.9, national average. 13.5 is
near the median for the country) (Brookings2, 2011).
Science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM)
jobs in the Syracuse MSA equaled 37.2 jobs per 1,000
total jobs, versus 53.1 for all metropolitan areas.
vR&D-Commercialization Disconnect: Market analysis
has indicated that commercialization of R&D could be
improved in the region. For example, Battelle reports
that the region is a leader in research related to some
subsections of our region’s industry clusters but in
general, these relationships could be strengthened.
vFragmented Government: Brookings found that in
2007 Syracuse MSA had 1.52 local governments
per 10,000 people, ranking us 92nd in the top 100
metros. The national average for this statistic among
the top 100 metros was 0.47. (Brookings, 2011).
vLow Wages: Syracuse’s average annual wage in 2009
was $39,990, 21.8 percent below the average annual
wage of the top 100 metropolitan areas in the nation
($51,163).
vPoverty and Income Inequality: The Central New York
region’s poverty rate is slightly above the national
average (13.6 percent versus 13.3 percent for the 100
largest metros). The City of Syracuse poverty rate
of 31.7 percent ranked Syracuse as the sixth highest
poverty rate in the country for central city poverty
rates. Syracuse also has one of the highest levels of
income inequality in the nation between its central
city and suburban populations (Brookings2, 2011).
vSkill Shortages and Misalignment: In spite of slow
job growth and the large concentration of colleges
and universities in the region, CNY employers still cite
shortages in areas such as engineering, information
technologies, and medical care as reasons for
expanding elsewhere. This has been a long-term
trend in this region.
vSlow Job Growth: The Syracuse MSA has lagged the
nation in job growth. In 2009, the Syracuse MSA had
320,720 jobs, an increase of 21.8 percent over 1980.
This compares with a 44.6 percent growth rate for
the top 100 metropolitan areas during that same time
period; the Syracuse MSA grew at less than half the
national average over the last 30 years.
vLimited Population Growth: Following decades of
population loss, the 2010 census showed Central
New York’s population (counties of Cayuga, Madison,
Onondaga, and Oswego) grew by 1.4 percent to
an all-time high of 742,603. Within Onondaga
County, the population increased by 1.9 percent,
the first population growth for the county since the
1990 Census. Madison County had a 5.8 percent
population gain, ranking it the sixth fastest-growing
county in the state. The census also found that
the City of Syracuse, the region’s urban core, has
been able to stabilize and slow the decline of its
population better than other upstate cities. However,
the Syracuse MSA’s 1.9 percent population increase
since 2000 shows slow population growth compared
with the national growth average of the top 100
metropolitan areas at 10.5 percent, indicating that
robust population growth is not expected.
2.4 Existing Conditions: Summary
Collectively, the region has a breadth of existing assets,
resources, and expertise in place to advance the goals and
strategies outlined in this strategy. Much progress has been
made over the last 10 to 15 years in implementing a regional
approach to economic development. However, more work
remains to achieve our holistic vision for sustainable economic
success and enhanced quality of life. The following pages detail
the issues and challenges to address, and the opportunities
that lie ahead. By capitalizing on our assets, we will achieve
our vision to make Central New York rich in opportunity for our
region’s innovative businesses, for our world-class workforce,
and for all of our region’s residents. l
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32
Economic
Development
Vision
T
he Central New York Regional Economic Development
Council’s vision for the region’s five counties was
developed through a deliberate mix of council input and
public participation. The council’s Vision Work Group built
upon those insights, considered assets and challenges, and
imagined broad-reaching yet attainable possibilities for our
distinctive region. The resulting vision statement was vetted
through leadership and the public, and drives our strategies
that will propel the region and its people toward a more
sustainable and competitive economy.
3.1 vision statement
Innovation and collaboration will create opportunity
for all who live and work in Central New York. We
will take ownership over our future; operate in a
nimble, efficient, and effective manner; and leverage
our many assets—natural, agricultural, geographic,
economic, educational, cultural, and human—to
form a diverse, sustainable, and globally competitive
economy while preserving and enhancing our
region’s treasured quality of life.
CNY will be rich in opportunity—for our region’s innovative
businesses, for our world-class workforce, and for all of our
region’s residents. We commit to investing in targeted industry
clusters with comparative advantages and verifiable growth
opportunities, including building on our region’s globally
recognized strengths in clean technology and renewable
energy, among others. Collaborating across our five distinctive
counties, Central New York will:
• Support our businesses’ efforts to compete in the
global economy by increasing exports to global
markets, attracting foreign investments, producing
products and services that are sought after around
the world, and connecting our region to the world
through expanded broadband infrastructure;
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Align local incentives to reflect the fact that small
businesses drive our regional and national economy;
Respect our region’s agricultural and manufacturing
heritage and ensure a sustainable future for
agriculture and manufacturing by adapting our
strengths to contemporary challenges, supporting
value-added agricultural processing and locallygrown food products to broader markets;
Support and nurture innovation in its many forms:
through the creation of new products, new processes,
and new ventures; and through the application of new
ideas to existing businesses to maintain and build
competitiveness;
Continue to grow our high-profile “Eds and Meds”
and expand our leading role in research and
development while working to better leverage R&D
into new jobs;
Expand our recent investments in entrepreneurs and
risk-takers, including our large student population,
by providing the human, intellectual, and financial
capital to explore new ideas that support the social,
economic, and environmental progress of the region;
Accelerate our region’s emergence as a four-season
place of choice and expand efforts to attract and
retain residents and students;
Recognize the central role that city, town, and village
centers play in driving growth and build stronger and
more vibrant neighborhoods, municipal cores, and
main streets by leveraging existing infrastructure,
building human capital, and promoting density in
development;
Encourage and reward creativity, recognizing the
critical role of arts and culture, and promoting
our region as a world-class tourism destination,
leveraging our unique location as the gateway to
the Finger Lakes, Adirondack Park, and St. Lawrence
Seaway, and embracing our significant architectural
and historic heritage;
3.0 | economic development vision
Farm fields in Cayuga County
•
•
•
•
•
•
Make smart land-use decisions that respect the
rural nature of much of our region while minimizing
long-term impacts of sprawl by redeveloping existing
buildings, brownfields, and industrial parks before
supporting new greenfield development;
Maintain a regional transportation system (roads,
rail, ports, and air) oriented around areas of economic
growth while leveraging our geographic location
at the center of North America’s most densely
populated corridor—within a day’s drive of more than
130 million people, providing affordable, convenient
mobility for goods to market and people to work, and
supporting growth along corridors already available to
public transit;
Leverage our region’s considerable water resources,
respect our environment, and accept that
environmental stewardship and economic growth
are not principles in conflict but rather are mutually
supportive elements of a sustainable community;
Provide access to high-quality primary, secondary,
and post-secondary education to our region’s
residents and align workforce development and
training and education programs with existing and
forthcoming economic opportunities, recognizing
our highly skilled workforce as a unique asset and
acknowledging that education is critical to the longterm success of both individuals and the region as a
whole;
Support our first-rate health care system as both
a critical service to the community and a major
economic engine for the region;
Raise the standard of living for the individuals and
families of our region by prioritizing quality jobs with
career ladders (not simply focusing on the quantity
of jobs created), doing so in a way that embraces
our community’s growing diversity and allows for
New Americans, immigrants, refugees, and the
traditionally under-served to share equitably in the
benefits of regional prosperity;
•
•
Set the standard for cross-sector collaborations
within the region, within the state, and around the
world because new and meaningful ideas emerge at
the intersection of diverse, existing knowledge; and
Enhance our regional competitiveness by identifying
obstacles and opportunities, advocating for
productive change in state and federal policies,
including tax and regulatory reform, and being
engaged and educated participants in the legislative
and regulatory processes.
In sum and most importantly, we will take ownership of
our own future by becoming as nimble, efficient, and effective
as we can be as a region—in particular through our civic
and governmental institutions—to better enable the timely,
complete, and successful implementation of this vision for our
region. By holding ourselves and our partners accountable to
this vision—through measurable outcomes—Central New York
will be rich in opportunity for all who live and work here.
3.2 Central New York Regional Goals
Central New York is emerging as a national leader among
metropolitan areas working to re-invent themselves. However,
the region and the Central New York Regional Economic
Development Council recognize that we have many challenges
left and that our restored prosperity is attainable but not
inevitable. Further progress requires a re-examination of our
approach and a renewed commitment to our most catalytic
strategies.
As mentioned in Section 2, the region has worked
creatively and collaboratively to re-invent itself, gaining both
the attention and support of significant national think-tanks
and philanthropies, including the Ford Foundation, the Surdna
Foundation, Say Yes to Education, the Kauffman Foundation,
CEO for Cities, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and, most
recently, the Brookings Institution. These relationships have
placed the region in the midst of a national discussion about
economic and community revitalization, and have brought
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34
best practices from around the country to Central New York.
Our region’s plan has been deeply informed and influenced by
these relationships, and by our growing understanding of the
complex and inter-related nature of our region’s economy with
those of the nation and the rest of the world.
In pursuit of our vision and based on existing conditions
in the region (Section 2), the Central New York Regional
Economic Development Council has identified three priority
goals to guide its work:
Revitalize our Region’s Urban Cores, Main Streets,
and Neighborhoods
This integrated, holistic approach is designed to raise average
wages, reduce concentrations of poverty, retain more young
people, attract more venture capital, support innovation and
competitiveness within our region’s businesses, and create
dynamic cities that are talent magnets.
Central New York is committed to these goals, and will
work cooperatively to implement the strategies (Section 4)
necessary to attain them.
3.3 Critical Issues to be Resolved
3.4 Critical Opportunities to Advance
Process
The CNY REDC determined that to accomplish the tasks
required in the time allowed, to increase stakeholder and public
buy in, and to gather a variety of viewpoints, it would establish
work groups to assure that the council used a systematic
process to review the various data points, recommend
outcomes, and incorporate feedback. Work groups reported
their findings at the CNY REDC meetings for member
discussion, in the meeting’s executive session, and public
discussion and feedback in the meeting’s open session.
These work groups, combined with previous research on
the region by Battelle, Catalytix, and the Brookings Institution,
have informed the council’s prioritization of opportunities/
issues and strategies/projects. (See Table 3.1 below) Table 3.1: CNY Regional Economic Development Council Work Groups
Work Group
Purpose
Vision Work
Group
•
•
•
•
Public
Participation
Work Group
•
•
•
Strategy Work
Group
•
•
•
•
•
Writing Work
Group
•
•
REDC
Members
Non-REDC
Members
Develop vision statement (with input/validation from county-level discussions
and region-wide public forum)
Determine goals and regional level performance measures
Create criteria to establish priorities (CFA and project)
Establish sub team to evaluate projects using project priority criteria and team
expertise
10
5
Develop public participation strategy
Conduct public forums (Nine county-level discussions with key workforce
development, economic development, government, and business participants;
two region-wide public forums; one multi-media “Be Heard” campaign)
Develop sustainability plan to ensure public engagement throughout five-year
plan implementation
10
16
Complete Strategy White Papers to identify strategies and projects
13 Strategy White Papers produced (Cores - 1; Clusters - 8; Export - 4)
Used common guidelines; for each topic develop background/data,
determine strategies to support growth; propose tactical projects
(more than 150 projects were proposed); discuss policy improvement
recommendations o Lead authors reached out to subject matter experts beyond the work
group for best practices, trends, issues, opportunities
Prepare five-year strategy implementation plans and budgets
Complete priority project implementation plans, budgets, and CFA applications
Determine leveraged resources
Establish sub-group, Executive Committee, to evaluate projects that fit with
long-term strategies
14
31
Gather input from the various work groups
Complete the development of the five-year strategic plan
2
17
o
o
(See Table 3.2 below) The table represents how we will discuss
each goal and how we will meet the challenge.
Goal Background & Rationale:
Loguen Homes, on Syracuse’s East Side, was built as part of a neighborhood
revitalization project to provide affordable rental housing for low to moderate
income tenants.
Photo by Christa Glazier | Courtesy of CenterState CEO
Critical Issues to be Resolved/
Critical Opportunities to Advance
Through this collaborative process, the Central New York
Regional Economic Development Council identified the
following critical issues and opportunities to consider as it
works to achieve its primary goals for the region.
The region has a strong foundation of industry sectorfocused regional economic development, which it has been
implementing over the last 15 years.
In 1996, the Metropolitan Development Association
developed Vision 2010, with work largely prepared by SRI
International, which outlined a vision for regional development
across five Central New York counties, recognizing the region’s
strengths in education, entrepreneurial development, and
cluster-based economic development.
In 2004, two world-class consulting firms, Battelle
Memorial Institute (Battelle) & Catalytix, were commissioned
to revise the Vision 2010 plan and develop detailed
recommendations on implementing a broader regional
strategic plan. The resulting document, the Essential New York
Initiative, outlined a comprehensive regional development
strategy to accelerate the transition of Central New York
to a knowledge-based economy, and detailed six master
strategies for regional economic growth and offers dozens of
detailed recommendations as a framework for achieving that
success. Among them are optimizing key industry clusters,
Table 3.2: Summary of Issues and Opportunities
CRITICAL ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES
Goal I
Strengthen Targeted Industry Concentrations that Leverage Unique Economic Assets
Issue
With limited resources, investments must be made in most competitive industries
Issue
NYS regulatory, policy, and infrastructure challenges
Opportunity
CNY’s diverse industry concentrations present unique opportunities for cross industry collaborations and provide
a hedge against individual industry downturns
Goal II
Improve Competitiveness in, and Connections to, the Regional, National, and Global Economies
Issue
The region, like the country, is not growing exports quickly enough as compared to other G8 countries
Opportunity
The region has growing strengths in service-oriented sectors that offer new opportunities for exports, and offers
excellent infrastructure to support export activities
Issue
Gaps in venture/seed capital, commercialization assistance, and tech transfer
Opportunity
The region has a growing and increasingly sophisticated set of programs and resources to support
entrepreneurship.
Opportunity
Maximize the potential of CNY’s highly educated and skilled workforce
Goal III
Revitalize our Region’s Urban Cores, Main Streets, and Neighborhoods
Issue
Alleviating high concentrations of poverty that increase costs on local government, reduce educational
attainment, and impede development of a sustained and talented workforce
Issue
Investing in outdated infrastructure and addressing the associated costs of sprawl
Issue
NYS policies are needed that address the decline of the urban center
Opportunity
Rethink – Challenge the barriers to education and economic success
Opportunity
Repurpose – Increase density and create vibrant main streets
Opportunity
Retrain – Improve social capital and better connect people to work
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36
Monarch Industries in Cortland
Courtesy of Cortland Business
identifying new prospects for growth in knowledge-based
industries, and strategies on how to attract and retain the
creative talent to fuel that growth. In 2009, Battelle further
revised this work with updated data and findings. Given the
region’s longstanding relationship with Battelle, it decided to
invest significant resources in updating its existing research
to provide more insight and expert analysis, in part, to the
formation of strategies for this strategic plan.
Regional partners have been implementing these strategies
for the past seven years, which provides a foundation for the
continued growth of a regional economy through strengthening
and supporting the most competitive industries sectors that
align with the region’s unique assets and workforce strengths.
Critical Issue: With limited resources, investments must be
made in most competitive industries
As market demands shift, technology changes, and access to
resources becomes more difficult, not every existing industry
within the region will be well positioned for sustained or
continued growth. However, the Council’s strategic plan
intends to achieve a positive impact on the regional economy
as a whole by focusing limited resources on the most
competitive, fastest growing industries that offer the greatest
potential return on investment. The Council is also focused on
those industries that provide higher wages across a diversity of
job skills and align with the region’s workforce assets.
Critical Issue: NYS regulatory, policy,
and infrastructure challenges
The “high cost of doing business in New York State” is both
a real and perceived barrier for companies in the state. Local
and statewide business environments are uncompetitive when
compared to other states on such factors as property tax
burdens, regulatory hurdles, and unwieldy business processes,
such as permitting and licensing.
Escalating unfunded mandates
from New York State have added
significant costs to the budgets
of local governments and school
districts throughout the region, with
these costs passed on to residents
in the form of increased property
taxes. If state mandates continue
to grow faster than the 2 percent
property tax cap, local governments
will have no choice but to reduce
investment in infrastructure and other
local government services needed
by businesses and residents in the
region.
Additionally, as discussed
in Section 2, New York State is
burdened with some of the highest
energy costs in the nation. In order
to make long-term decisions about
future operations, industries must
be assured that they can continue
to operate competitively, including the ability to obtain lowcost energy resources. With passage and implementation
of Recharge New York, it is critical New York State ensure
businesses that need it most are provided low-cost, reliable, and
long-term energy costs, to allow them to remain competitive
and continue to operate in the region and state.
As New York State examines opportunities to reduce costs,
realignment of services has also had a negative impact on
communities. For example, the closure of some correctional
facilities, such as the Harriet Tubman Residential Facility in
Cayuga County and Camp Georgetown in Madison County,
has directly impacted Central New York communities. Plans
have been presented to offset the impact of these closings by
focusing on new projects in the affected communities and to
reuse the closed facilities.
Critical Opportunity: CNY’s diverse industry concentrations
present unique opportunities for cross-industry collaborations
and provide a hedge against individual industry downturns
As identified in Section 2, our region is a hub of strong and
economically diverse industry clusters, representing a crosssection of both traditional and new economy industries.
A continued focus on specific industry clusters is important
because:
• They have critical mass and a large base of existing
employment in the region;
• Employment in these sectors is highly concentrated
in Central New York;
• There is significant growth in regional, national,
and global demand for the products and services of
these industries; and
• Central New York possesses resources to support
these clusters and therefore this region has a
competitive advantage to attract similar firms.
• They are deeply connected to our anchor
institutions.
“Industry clusters could, and should, be interrelated.”
—public comment, forum 2 in oswego
Opportunities also exist to identify new and exciting market
opportunities at the intersection of sectors, such as clean
tech and bioscience, bioscience and agriculture, and health
care and clean tech, to name a few. Additionally, our region’s
industry clusters align well with the clusters that have been
targeted by statewide economic development efforts, including
nanotechnology, clean tech, bioscience, and financial services,
among others (AT Kearney, 2007).
Anticipated benefits in each industry cluster include:
Clean Energy and Environmental Systems (CEES)
Increased Employment – Since 1996, the
region’s CEES strategy has earned international
recognition and has successfully created or
retained numerous jobs in the local economy,
including creating new products and services
at existing firms and attracting new firms to the
region. We are confident that continuing this
approach will create or retain thousands of jobs
in the next five years.
Community Revitalization – Homes,
neighborhoods, and communities will be
revitalized through projects that demonstrate
application of clean energy and environmental
systems developed by CNY firms, and workforce
training in the CEES field.
Increased Employment – A growing number of
jobs at some of our region’s top employers in the
health care field is expected.
Increased Wages – Increased incomes, as this
industry pays above the regional average wage,
will be realized.
Improved Quality of Care – Continued
investment and growth in this sector will directly
benefit the quality of care provided to the
region’s residents.
Low Turnover – Low employee turnover in
this sector will reduce burdens on workforce
development programs and public assistance
mechanisms.
Financial Services
Leverage High Skilled Labor – The financial
services sector offers a wide range of wages and
leverages competitive labor and real estate costs.
Utilize Office Space – The potential absorption of
vacant office space within the urban centers of
the region’s five counties will act to revitalize the
adjacent neighborhood and support local retail
and service business growth and development.
Increased Employment – There is potential for a
handful of financial services attraction efforts to
result in a significant increase in employment for
this cluster.
Increased Travel Spending – The work performed
in the proposed service centers will support
national and international business operations
of these prospective companies and has the
potential to generate significant business travel
and attendant travel and entertainment spending
as part of routine business operations.
Increased Revenue and Jobs – By deploying the
above strategies the region should expect overall
increased economic activity in terms of sales
revenue and jobs because the CNY region could
capture and retain more of the economic activity
of processing, distributing, and delivering to
market food and agriculture products.
Access – Healthy vibrant communities are often
measured by metrics like access to healthy foods
(or elimination of food deserts), and municipal
cores cannot exist without the importation of
food from neighboring rural locations. Likewise,
rural agribusinesses rely on access to markets
and funds that municipal cores provide.
Advanced Manufacturing (Digital and Electronic Devices,
Metals Production and Manufacturing, Precision
Manufacturing)
Better Wages – In 2011, Battelle found that each
of the 11 priority industry clusters for the region
exceeded the region’s average annual wage.
Digital and electronic devices, at an average
wage of $68,197, exceeded this average by more
than 50 percent.
Continued Growth – At a time when global
markets related to security, aerospace, and
defense continue to grow, this strength serves as
a significant opportunity for continued growth
within the region.
Tourism
Regional Branding – Tourism marketing efforts to
brand the region ultimately help communicate
and amplify the quality of life dimensions of the
overall region.
Increased Tax Revenues – Tourism outreach
bolsters community pride while driving higher
sales tax revenues.
Talent Attraction – Tourism development,
marketing, and sales are all proven mechanisms
for building interest from visitors who are also
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38
potential future residents, business owners,
employees, students, seasonal/second-home
owners, and retirees.
Access to Talent Pools – There are numerous
opportunities to engage potential talent pools
for area industries based on targeted conference
recruitment for the area.
Exploring New Partnerships – Developing
medical tourism initiatives will create bonds
between the hospitality and health sectors.
oal Background and Rationale:
G
Competitive economies are globally connected, highly
educated, and adaptable to changing market conditions.
To ensure that Central New York is prepared to meet these
demands it must advance an ecosystem that supports
innovation and respond to the needs of an entrepreneurial
economy, capitalize on the diversity of its workforce and
academic and research assets, and strengthen its global export
potential.
Over the past decade, the region has worked to develop a
robust innovation ecosystem, understanding our innovators
and small businesses are among our greatest job generators.
Small business is responsible for creating two out of every
three new jobs in the United States each year, and that
emerging firms in their first year create an average of three
million jobs per year.
Federal initiatives have prioritized the support of
small businesses and entrepreneurs at the national level,
implementing policies and programs to help small businesses
to start and grow, and encouraging public-private partnerships
to support workforce re-training and entrepreneurship. Support
programs have included tax cuts to help small businesses
grow and create jobs, expanded access to capital for small
firms, expanded entrepreneurship education and mentorship
programs, and identified and removed unnecessary export
barriers to help small businesses expand overseas. We must
employ a similar prioritization of small business innovation,
and entrepreneurship within our region.
In regards to expanding our region’s export potential, recent
analysis from the Brookings Institution (2011) has indicated
that domestic consumption in the United States has slowed
down in the past 30 years. At the same time, the fastest
growing markets are outside the United States in places like
Asia and South America.
The prioritization of exporting is such a critical component
of delivering the next economy that a National Exporting
Initiative has been established at the federal level to align
and streamline the resources of federal agencies to reduce
barriers to exporting and assist domestic companies in making
international sales contacts.
In addition, the Brookings Institution has launched the
Metropolitan Export Initiative (MEI) program. Recognizing
that the majority of existing exports comes directly from
metropolitan areas throughout the country, Brookings has
selected four regions from across the country to participate
in a comprehensive effort to develop a region-wide export
development strategy. The Central New York region, through a
competitive application process, was selected to participate in
this program in early 2011. The region joins a select peer group
of Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Portland, the only other
regions selected by Brookings for the MEI program.
Key factors in the Brookings Institution’s decision to select
the region to participate include the strength and diversity
of regional industry clusters—many of which have strong
potential for export growth. Also, Central New York’s unique
assets—natural, agricultural, geographic, educational, cultural,
and human—particularly position it to compete well in an
increasingly competitive global marketplace.
Central New York’s ability to generate jobs and wealth,
and be competitive on the regional, national, and global scale,
rests largely on our ability to foster innovation and support the
entrepreneurs and small businesses that are the backbone of
our economy and among the greatest job generators.
Exporting
Critical Issue: The region, like the country, is not growing
exports as quickly as other G8 countries.
Many of the world’s emerging markets have already prioritized
exporting as a key component of their own economic future,
while the United States has largely remained focused on
domestic sales (exporting has grown in non-U.S. G7 markets
by 7 percent in the past 20 years while it has only grown by 2.6
percent in the United States in the same time frame). To ensure
future economic growth and prosperity, Central New York
must improve its competitiveness in, and connections to, the
regional, and global economies.
Currently, Central New York does not maximize its
potentially competitive position in the global marketplace.
Though the region’s economic output was roughly $32 billion
in 2009, only 10 percent of this output was export related. This
ranks the region in the bottom half of the country’s top 100
largest metros.
Critical Opportunity: The region has growing strengths in
service-oriented sectors that offer new opportunities for
exports, and offers excellent infrastructure to support export
activities.
Like many communities transitioning to a knowledge-based
economy, the region has growing strengths in serviceoriented sectors, like medical, education, and business
services that offer new opportunities for exports. The region’s
manufacturing legacy persists and has fostered strengths in
innovative product development, advanced manufacturing, and
distribution.
A 2009 report from the Brookings Institution found that for
every $1 billion in exports of a metro area industry, workers in
that industry earn roughly 1 to 2 percent higher wages. As the
Central New York median wage remains in the bottom quartile
as compared to the top 100 metropolitan areas in the United
States, growing sales in foreign markets must play a crucial role
in raising the region’s median wage.
Small business
growth,
entrepreneurship,
and innovation
remain a critical
backbone of
transitioning
the Central New
York economy
sustainably into
future prosperity.
Nationally, the Brookings Institution reports that services
are growing faster than the export of products (2009). In
2008 the 12-county region surrounding Central New York
saw 37 percent of its overall export growth in services. The
region’s service exporters are especially productive as each
service worker produces 2.3 times more value than their
manufacturing counterparts ($222,000 vs $95,500 per worker
in 2009).Using the region’s highly educated workforce as a
foundation, as well as its unique concentration of high-quality
higher education, research and development expertise, Central
New York possesses the talent resources to support a more
robust export economy.
Additionally, one of Central New York’s key assets is its
proximity to the Canadian border; even the most distant points
in the region are no more than three hours from the border. The
region also offers excellent infrastructure to support export
activities with relative proximity to the Port of Oswego and
the global ports of New York City; Newark, N.J.; and Montreal,
Quebec. Central New York offers an international airport at
Hancock International in Syracuse, and a major freight transfer
hub on the CSX mainline between New York and Chicago. In
spite of these advantages, Central New York must improve
competitiveness in, and connection to, the global economy.
Anticipated benefits
A strengthened export economy will:
Offer better, higher paying jobs within the region,
Enable the region to compete in the global
marketplace due to more international business
relationships to attract foreign direct investment, and
Result in more global awareness and an enhanced
understanding of global trends, enabling the
businesses, and the region, to react to emerging
opportunities.
Entrepreneurship
Critical Issue: Gaps in venture/seed capital,
commercialization assistance and tech transfer
More than $2 billion annually is being invested in R&D at
upstate academic institutions, and there are an increasing
number of new ventures being created as spin-offs through the
downsizing of large regional businesses in core sectors. The
result is a developing pipeline of new ventures that offer high
growth-return potential, but lack the necessary infrastructure,
risk capital, and support services to enable them to remain and
grow in upstate New York.
Furthermore, many promising seed and early-stage
companies are increasingly looking to “bi-coastal” venture
capital providers, which increases the likelihood that they
will move to these sources of capital. Less than 1 percent
of all upstate capital is currently being invested at the seed
stage, and 91 percent of the venture capital that is resident
in New York State is deployed out of state. When early stage
companies seek capital elsewhere, they often subsequently
move elsewhere, representing a missed opportunity in terms of
building a pipeline for later stage in-state investments.
Battelle found extremely limited evidence of risk capital
investment and availability in Central New York over the last
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40
“Small business is our foundation.
It affects our quality of life; it affects families.”
Small business growth, entrepreneurship, and innovation
remain a critical backbone of transitioning the Central
New York economy sustainably into future prosperity.
Entrepreneurship drives economic diversity and vastly
increases a region’s competitiveness. Growing a successful
entrepreneurial culture requires:
• Expertise: To connect entrepreneurs with training,
mentors, advisors, and accelerators
• Services: To provide entrepreneurs access to critical
services at reduced costs
• Talent: To assist entrepreneurs in recruiting and
training people who can help them grow
• Consumers: To drive demand and scale startups
through new and existing markets
• Capital: To provide necessary resources to
entrepreneurs in various regions and sectors
and partnerships must be leveraged and connected to these
great assets, creating an ecosystem of resources delivered to
entrepreneurs across the region.
In particular the link between entrepreneurial
development and the university sector is so significant that
the Kauffman Foundation engaged with Syracuse University
in 2007 to prioritize higher education’s role in region-wide
entrepreneurship support.
With a $3 million grant from
the Kauffman Foundation,
Syracuse University created
Enitiative, resulting in 165
campus-community projects that infuse entrepreneurship at
the grass roots level throughout the Central New York
community. The program includes partnerships with Cayuga
Community College, Le Moyne College, Morrisville State
College, Onondaga Community College, and the SUNY College
of Environmental Science and Forestry to truly imbed the spirit
of entrepreneurship throughout our region, and build small
businesses with young leaders from the ground up.
Building upon the Kauffman Foundation engagement,
Syracuse University, in partnership with CenterState CEO,
recently received a $500,000 award from the U.S. Commerce
Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA)
and designation as an EDA University Center. The award is
aimed at igniting innovation, accelerating entrepreneurship,
and launching student ventures throughout upstate New
York. Together with a $1.7 million private endowment to the
Innovation and Disruptive Entrepreneurship Accelerator
Student Sandbox, a partnership with CenterState CEO and The
Tech Garden, the EDA award provides sustaining funding for
the effort to help student entrepreneurs start new businesses
and nonprofit organizations that will in turn provide economic
growth in Central New York.
Jobs – Startup ventures are among the greatest job
generators. According to the Kauffman Foundation,
nearly all net job creation in the United States occurs
in emerging firms less than five years old (Kauffman,
2009), and companies in their first year create an
average of three million jobs per year (Kauffman,
2010). Given this job creation potential, it is critical
to foster entrepreneurial development and catalyze
technology transfer from the university sector.
CNY has an extraordinary supporting infrastructure of
community-based assets that support entrepreneurship, and is
home to some of the top-ranked entrepreneurial programs in
the country. An impressive pool of talent at its 13 colleges and
universities, with more than 60,000 students, and a network
of support services that includes diverse levels of expertise
Sustained Growth – Entrepreneurship allows for
sustained economic growth and drives economic
diversity and competitiveness. Accelerating the
growth of innovative new technologies, launching
new products, and expanding into new markets holds
promise for strong, sustained growth in the region.
decade (Battelle, 2011). Private equity investment centered
largely in one company acquisition ($155 million) with limited
venture capital allocated to companies at the seed through
later stages (about $16 million). It also found very low per
capita investment (2001-2011):
• Central NY Per Capita VC funding (non-acquisition):
$27
• U.S. Per Capita VC funding (non-acquisition): $933
Additionally, patent activity is a good predictor of
commercialization. Although the region has strong assets
and institutions supporting research and development, the
Syracuse MSA’s patent activity ranks low compared to its
counterparts. In an analysis of U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office data, Brookings found that Syracuse ranks 51st in patent
applications per 1,000 workers, with 4,339 patent applications
filed between 2001 and 2010, compared to the national
average of 2,362,809 for the 100 largest U.S. metros.
We must find new ways to provide seed capital to our
region’s startups to demonstrate to entrepreneurs outside the
region our commitment to this segment, and to provide a local
partner to due diligence and attract co-investors from outside
region.
Critical Opportunity: The region has a growing and
increasingly sophisticated set of programs and resources
to support entrepreneurship, which allows for sustained
economic growth and drives economic diversity and
competitiveness
Access to Resources and Partnerships – The region’s
proximity to New York City presents opportunities
to connect upstate entrepreneurs and research and
development resources to downstate capital.
Workforce
Critical Opportunity: Maximize the diversity and potential of
CNY’s highly educated and skilled workforce
Central New York’s highly educated workforce and unique
concentration of high-quality higher-education, research and
development expertise forms a foundation for investments
in today’s innovative, knowledge-based global economy. In
order to improve our global competitiveness, the region must
continue to maximize human capital, improve alignment
between workforce supply and employer demand, create and
support apprenticeship programs, attract and retain students
and young professionals, and support the needs of minority
and mature workers. Central New York also has a highly skilled
immigrant workforce and a strong foreign student population
to help meet its academic workforce demands.
Efforts have already been made to streamline the delivery
of workforce development and alignment programs. In 2006,
the Journey to Jobs (J2J) initiative established a collaboration
of more than 30 organizations in Central New York across
education, government, academia, business, economic
development, and human services. The initiative developed a
community infrastructure that embraced diversity, tolerated
ambiguity, and bridged differences with others who both
collaborate and compete for scarce funds and resources. This
collaborative acted as the foundation for more than $5 million
in workforce development grants to the region.
The Tech Garden
has incubated
75+ companies,
provided technical
assistance to
500+ ventures,
and incubated
100+ student
entrepreneurs
in the Student
Sandbox.
Growing a workforce with a diversity of skill sets across
industry sectors:
Enables the region to create new employment
opportunities for its residents,
Positions the region to actively participate in, and
benefit from, economic growth around the globe, and
Improves the region’s overall economic diversity.
oal Background and Rationale: G
Revitalize our Region’s Urban Cores,
Main Streets, and Neighborhoods
Central New York is increasingly recognized throughout
the country for embracing smart growth principles and
implementing initiatives and collaborations among public
and private partners to turn aside decades of post-industrial
decline and sprawl. At the heart of our economic vision is a
fundamental awareness of sustainability—reflected in how
the region invests in our targeted industry concentrations to
create a long-term plan for growth and job creation around our
existing assets and human capital.
At its core, however, sustainability and smart growth are a
vision toward nurturing and protecting our own communities,
be they rural or urban. Through engagement with our
anchor institutions—the universities, colleges, community
foundations, and major employers whose functions and
facilities are firmly planted and interconnected within our
municipalities—the region is working with its public and private
institutions to strengthen and revitalize our neighborhoods,
build the workforce of tomorrow, empower disadvantaged
groups, care for our environment, and rebuild streetscapes and
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42
public spaces so that our social and human capital remain a
vital driver for our region’s development.
Like our targeted industry clusters and our engines for
innovation and entrepreneurship, revitalizing our region’s urban
cores, main streets, and neighborhoods is fundamentally linked
to and built upon our existing economic, social, and cultural
assets. A great many of those assets lie within the five cities,
47 villages, and numerous additional hamlets and town centers
that serve as hubs of innovation, heritage tourism, intellectual
capital, diversity, and creative enterprise in the heart of New
York State. These assets include:
• A very high concentration of engaged colleges,
universities, and medical institutions supporting and
expanding research and development in our targeted
industry concentrations.
• Extraordinarily high rankings as one of America’s
best places to raise a family (top five Forbes.com
and Yahoo.com) with relatively short commutes,
high performing school districts, and a vibrant arts
and culture sector.
• Recognition as one of the top 20 greenest regions in
America (Popular Science, National Geographic) with
abundant natural resources, and with both academic
and advocacy institutions actively integrating
environmental stewardship into the region’s way of
life.
• Being one of the top seven communities in the
United States with a dense concentration of jobs
within the urban core. According to a study cited by
Brookings and conducted by Elizabeth Kneebone in
2009, the Syracuse MSA has 37.7 percent of its jobs
within three miles of the city center (Brookings2,
2011).
Furthermore, Central New York’s targeted industry
concentrations have reciprocal relationships within our
urban and municipal cores. CNY’s thriving clean technology
industries provide guidance in rebuilding our streetscapes
and neighborhoods with attractive green infrastructure and
energy efficient public spaces. Investment in new facilities for
our health and biosciences is being carried out with an acute
awareness to our environment and revitalization of our plighted
neighborhoods. And our tourism industry has been a driving
advocate for the redevelopment of our main streets to further
attract and retain visitors to our region who travel for our arts,
cultural, and sports activities located in our municipal centers.
Our downtowns and main streets, rural or urban, are also
the places where people, ideas, and businesses converge.
Over the past 50 years, outmigration from these centers
has leveled off, providing us with an opportunity to rebuild
our urban centers and municipal cores and transform them
into communities that will grow small and medium-sized
businesses, retain recent college graduates, build a capable
workforce, and attract young professionals and entrepreneurs
in our targeted industry clusters.
Critical Issue: Alleviating high concentrations of poverty
that increase costs on local government, reduce educational
attainment, and hamper our ability to develop a sustained
and talented workforce
Despite the many positive conditions outlined above not all
ofour citizens have the access or the support mechanisms
to become active, productive members of our communities.
Poor Pre-K-12 educational attainment in our cities and a
spatial mismatch between jobs and people contribute to high
concentrations of poverty, which in turn increase costs on local
government.
In what CEOs for Cities calls “The Opportunity Dividend,”
reducing concentrated poverty rates in metropolitan areas
decreases public sector outlays for family and social services.
There is a direct correlation between the size of a population
living in poverty and the costs associated with such programs
as Medicaid and food stamps. Reducing poverty in the long
run not only reduces public expenditures on social programs,
but can also address the driving need to create a productive
workforce for our core industries, and foster stable family
environments that build strong neighborhoods.
Critical Issue: Investing in our outdated infrastructure
to support the economic drivers and targeted industry
concentrations that are building our economy, and addressing
the associated costs of sprawl
Typical of many post-industrial cities in the Northeast,
our urban centers also experience decaying or outdated
infrastructure that is needed to support the economic drivers
and targeted industry concentrations that are building our
economy. Decades of sprawling development outside our
municipal cores has also left our streets quiet, our public places
unkempt, and the perception that our public transit is not a
viable option for all.
“We have to keep intellectual capital in our area to advance.”
In particular, like the rest of the nation, the CNY region
struggles from historic underinvestment in rail, road, and
bridge infrastructure. Low-cost air service to many key
metropolitan areas in the Northeast is limited. And though
the Syracuse metropolitan area has high access to the existing
broadband infrastructure, this infrastructure asset has not yet
penetrated many surrounding and more rural areas.
While the cost to address many of these issues is high, they
are crucial components of building a sustainable region that
seeks to become more modernized, efficient, and competitive,
growing as a premier destination of choice for companies,
visitors, and residents.
Critical Issue: NYS policies are needed that address the
decline of the urban center
Past New York State policies, in some cases, have contributed
to the decline of urban centers, and future policies are needed
to reverse those trends. Section 4 details specific strategies
and public policy recommendations to address these issues.
Critical Opportunity: Rethink – Challenge the barriers to
education and economic success
In reinvigorating the region’s neighborhoods and main
streets through mutually beneficial partnerships with diverse
businesses and the region’s anchor institutions, opportunities
exist to invest resources that leverage the national movement
of anchor institutions to restore neighborhoods, train new
workers, retain young talent, collaborate with privately owned
enterprises, and create small business and social enterprises.
Through these collaborations, the region will advance projects
to reinvigorate in urban streetscapes that tie together unique
architecture and public places, empower home ownership in
urban neighborhoods, and advance efforts to offer attractive
and efficient means to travel.
These partnerships will create an exciting, receptive
environment for recent college graduates, student
startups, talented employees, and companies seeking
a dynamic, creative environment for growth.
By scaling and replicating anchor institution
revitalization models currently being piloted in
Auburn and on the North, South, and Near West side
neighborhoods in Syracuse, projects can catalyze
and facilitate economic opportunities for community
residents and spur private investment in previously
neglected areas.
By employing a multi-faceted housing strategy we
can provide affordable home improvement assistance
targeted toward energy upgrades that extend the
useful life of our housing stock and assist families to
age in place; offer incentives for the development of
owner-occupied properties that encourage a variety
of families to purchase and reside; deliver financial
and homebuyer education and other support services
to ensure long-term and successful homeownership;
and target efforts in neighborhoods where planning
and development is centered around anchor
institutions and other neighborhood assets and has
synergy with existing commercial redevelopment
efforts.
37.7% of jobs in the
SMSA are located
within three miles
of downtown
Syracuse; 21.9% of
people in Syracuse
work 10+ miles
from the downtown
city center
(Brookings, 2009).
Downtown Syracuse
Photo by Steve Sartori | Courtesy of Syracuse University
43
44
By developing new, innovative incentives to retain
recent college graduates in the Central New York
region, we can retain the creative and intellectual
capital that is available to the CNY region via
the extraordinary concentration of colleges and
universities in the region.
By developing and supporting regional arts events,
Central New York’s economy will benefit in many
ways from investments in regional cultural events.
Critical Opportunity: Repurpose – Increase density and create
vibrant main streets
Our municipal centers represent significant investments in
physical infrastructure that must be preserved and enhanced
for future growth, and to ensure that our region’s workforce
is connected with employment and training opportunities.
Efforts and initiatives already under way throughout the region
have placed an emphasis on repurposing of existing physical
assets through adaptive re-use and brownfield remediation;
linking planned transportation investment with surrounding
private development through transit-oriented strategies; and
using green technologies to improve the efficiency of buildings
and neighborhoods, promote density in development, and
encourage quality communities. The region must continue to
do this by leveraging investments in CNY’s industry clusters
so that our primary economic assets are strategically placed
within our municipal centers.
Re-densifying CNY’s municipal cores, across both
rural and urban landscapes, with green housing
development and deconstruction, complete streets,
and the rehabilitation and preparation of strategic
core sites and buildings for new investment are
essential for the region’s economic future.
There has been a national “return to the city”
movement that has spurred a renewed focus on the
health of municipal cores and has already resulted in
an increase in commercial and residential occupancy
rates, a growing trend that Central New York should
continue to capitalize.
Cities tend to be magnets for wealth, talent, and
creativity, and are a hotbed of opportunity for future
economic success and product innovation.
There exists right now a tremendous opportunity
to attract private investment to the region’s
urban centers as companies seek to expand their
collaborations with academic and medical institutions
and attract the highly educated creative workers they
need to expand in this economy. In Syracuse this
“reverse exodus” is already apparent. Companies
like King + King Architects, and O’Brien & Gere
Engineers have relocated from the suburbs to the
city in close proximity to Syracuse University’s
Warehouse and the Art Technology and Design
quarter being created on Syracuse’s Near West
Side. The assembly and preparation of shovel-ready
sites for these knowledge-based industries is a very
important undertaking if our urban centers are to take
advantage of this national trend.
Critical Opportunity: Retrain – Improve social capital and
better connect people to work
Human and social capital is the most important asset for a
globally competitive economy, and our region must rise to
the challenge by improving educational attainment, preparing
students for careers, and creating quality employment
opportunities that can sustain families. We can build upon our
region’s outstanding legacy of social innovation by deliberately
challenging the barriers to education and economic success
for families in our region with a particular focus on traditionally
under-served populations and the un- and-under-employed.
We will work with our anchor institutions, industry clusters,
and nonprofit sector so that retraining programs have a direct
collaborative tie to the primary drivers of our economy.
Evidence behind this level of engagement supports
our efforts. After three years of partnering with Say Yes to
Education, Inc., the Syracuse City School District saw an
increase of enrollment of 320 students in 2011, the first
increase in 10 years when it had otherwise anticipated a
decline. Graduation rates have increased nearly 5% since
2009, and the percent of students attending college increased
nearly 20%. In just over a one-year period, 9th grade students
passing Regents algebra increased 31%. In 2009, the District
experienced a 44% decline in the number of 9th grade
students who dropped out or were inactive.
Related to these figures, in what CEOs for Cities calls
the “The Talent Dividend,” increasing the four-year college
attainment rate within a city’s population increases aggregate
annual personal income (2008). Furthermore, vibrant cities
drive the development of human capital by concentrating
talent and ideas in ways that further build a culture of
education and personal attainment. Communities with higher
educated, more productive populations position regions
for dynamic growth and greater protection from economic
fluctuations.
The CNY
REDC public
engagement
process attracted
more than 539
members of the
public to the
various public
participation
meetings.
Courtesy of Le Moyne College
Increase in work readiness amongst our unemployed
and underemployed.
Increase middle school, high school, and postsecondary completion rates through programs like
Say Yes to Education Inc., and CNY STEM Hubs in
urban, suburban, and rural communities.
Issues and
3.5Critical
Opportunities Summary
The Central New York region has a solid head start on
implementing a regionally based, industry cluster driven
economic development strategy. Moving forward, this
approach positions the region to immediately capitalize on
the opportunities associated with our goal to strengthen
targeted industry concentrations that are leveraging our unique
economic assets.
Improving competitiveness in, and connections to, the
regional, national, and global economies will come from
establishing a regional economy that is globally connected,
highly educated, and adaptable to changing market conditions.
Again, the region is on solid footing given its vast resources
available to small business and entrepreneurs—the backbone
of our economy and some of our greatest job generators.
Central New York also possesses a highly educated workforce
and efforts are under way to expand the global connectivity of
the region’s businesses, large and small.
Finally, efforts to revitalize our region’s urban cores,
main streets, and neighborhoods are, and will continue to
be, catalyzed by initiatives that rethink our public-private
partnerships to create public good, repurpose our existing
physical assets, and retrain our workforce for the markets of
today and tomorrow. Existing initiatives across the region that
have been designed to address these opportunities deserve
continued support in order bring them to full fruition.
Stakeholder
3.6Public
Engagement Process
In August 2011, the Public Participation Work Group
drafted its public participation plan (see Table 3.5) and began
conducting a series of focus group and public input sessions
across the five-county CNY region to gather meaningful
input for use by the Vision and Strategy Work groups. The
process was designed to solicit citizens’ ideas on the assets,
opportunities, and critical issues of the region’s strategic
economic development plan through open sessions with small
groups and facilitated discussions held across all counties.
As this plan was executed, input was gathered during
several region-wide public forums and individual “Voice of the
County” sessions on drafts of the vision, strategic plan, policy
changes, and continued engagement (see Table 3.3 for county
representation at public events, and Table 3.4 for full meeting
schedule). The Public Participation Work Group met weekly to
review experiences and findings, to help plan and design the
“Be Heard CNY” survey and logo, and to update the CNY REDC
website as needed.
The approach to engage the public involved steadily
increasing levels of complexity to present evolving subject
matter content. Initially, a town-hall style approach with open
ended questions was utilized, soliciting input on such things as
“what are the top five regional assets.” In subsequent meetings,
the public was able to engage with subject matter experts
45
46
Table 3.3: County Representation at Public Events
County
Geography
(sq. miles)
Population*
% of CNY
Population
Public
Participation**
% of Public
Participation
Cayuga
693.18
80,026
10.1
172
31.9
Cortland
499.65
49,336
6.2
38
7.0
Madison
655.86
73,442
9.3
38
7.0
Onondaga
780.29
467,026
59.0
172
32.0
Oswego
953.3
122,109
15.4
119
22.1
TOTALS
3,582
791,939
539
*Source: 2010 Census data
**Attendance figures are estimated to be low, as not all attendees signed in.
and white paper authors who presented their data and fielded
questions and comments from the public.
The CNY REDC also engaged stakeholders through
the Strategy Work Group, which commissioned 13 white
papers that provided subject matter expertise and informed
this report’s strategies, tactics, projects, and performance
measures. Lead authors included 14 CNY REDC members and
31 non-council persons, displaying impressive levels of interest
and cooperation across counties and sectors. The development
of the white papers brought together leaders in business,
academics, research, not-for-profits, community renewal, and
government from all counties and many cities, villages, and
townships. These papers demonstrate a diversity of thought
and experiences, and provide solid strategies, projects, and
policy recommendations to drive our regional growth.
public service announcements, online ads, and once-per-day
Facebook posts directing people to participate. The survey
attracted nearly 200 survey respondents, yielding a wealth of
useful suggestions.
Outcomes
The survey was followed by a moderated “Virtual Town
Hall” on October 20, 2011, broadcast on WSYR 106.9 FM and
570 AM radio. Clear Channel Radio estimated approximately
13,000 listeners during this broadcast, based on the average
quarter hour audience ratings for adults 18 and over. The
discussion offered the public an opportunity to have a live
discussion with CNY REDC co-chairs Robert Simpson and
Nancy Cantor. Questions and responses from this discussion
were recorded and later made available via podcasts, web
postings, and email blasts.
More importantly than the quantity of participation,
significant assets, opportunities, challenges, and strategies
were identified through these engagement methods. The
feedback the council received was used directly in the
development of this plan’s vision statement, goals, and
strategies.
Common themes and feedback that emerged from this
public participation process included:
A concern about costs of doing business in New York
as an obstacle to job growth in CNY.
The hope for public policy changes to improve
personal as well as business environments.
Suggestions included reducing government
taxes, support of “buy local” initiatives, providing
accessible training for needed skills, and investing in
infrastructure (including broadband).
The CNY REDC public engagement process succeeded in
attracting more than 539 members of the public over the
course of the various public participation opportunities. The
public was invited to attend all but the first organizational
meeting of the full REDC. Nearly 200 Consolidated Funding
Applications for New York State economic development
funding were received, which suggests significant interest
in regional development. Additionally, the number of hits
to CNY’s Open for Business website during the period of
October 17 to November 4, 2011, was 933, indicating interest
in the council’s initiatives. The analytics feature of the Open
for Business website will enable ongoing tracking of public
interest.
The public was also invited,
through a multi-media campaign,
to take a “Be Heard CNY” survey,
conducted between October
7 and October 26, 2011, in
partnership with Clear Channel
Radio. The survey was available
online at www.beheardcny.
com, with links also available
through local media outlet websites and social media pages
such as Facebook. The survey was promoted through on-air
The majority of survey respondents indicated
that the most important economic goals for the region
were:
• “more businesses” and “more jobs”
(58 responses each)
• “more people choosing to live here” and “fewer people
living in poverty” (17 responses each)
• “reduce taxes and regulations”
This word map is a graphical interpretation of the words used by participants at the first Cayuga County “Voice of the County” meeting to describe Central New
York’s important assets. These concepts are reflected in the region’s vision and determination of the critical opportunities and issues.
An emphasis on the value of the region’s quality of
life.
The importance of keeping intellectual capital in
the region for existing business and entrepreneurial
growth.
An emphasis on the importance of the region’s water
resource assets, in terms of tourism, quality of life,
and access to international trade.
The need for better marketing of the region
supporting and leveraging its assets and building on
its center-city.
Capitalization on the central location of the region,
the geographic hub of upstate New York.
The need to support and grow small businesses as
a catalyst to improve the viability of region’s towns,
increase job creation, and enhance tourism.
The need to find ways of retaining and growing
regional talent.
At the region-wide public forum held on October 20 to
review the draft strategic plan, the public expressed the need
to invest in the targeted industry clusters identified in the plan,
with particular interest in advancing the Clean Energy and
Environmental Systems, Agribusiness and Food Processing,
Advanced Manufacturing, and Tourism clusters. The public
further identified such priorities as:
Public participation
was a vital part of
the CNY REDC’s process to gather input on the five-county
region’s challenges, assets, and opportunities. Highlights
include:
• More than
539 members of the public took part in
the process during the various events.
• A “Virtual Town Hall” on a local radio station that included
a live discussion with CNY REDC co-chairs Robert
Simpson and Nancy Cantor on October 20, 2011, attracted
13,000 listeners.
• As part of the “Be Heard CNY” campaign, a survey
launched in mid-October was completed by nearly
200 people who contributed ideas and feedback.
• Between October 17 and November 4, the CNY Open for
Business website had
933 individual hits.
• Voice of the County sessions, eight in total, were held in
each of the region’s
five counties.
47
48
An industry’s ability to leverage other clusters; there
are strong linkages between clusters, and funding
projects in one will support projects and growth
across many clusters
Implementing policies that support business growth,
especially small business
°°Consider business costs, especially power and
health care
°°Examine policies that may impede tourism
A need for investment in infrastructure, including
transportation
°°Strong infrastructure leverages positive growth
in small business, tourism, manufacturing;
e.g. shoreline stabilization, road creation, and
maintenance
Implementing policies that allows intellectual capital
to grow/expand in NYS
°°Provide incentives and potential tax breaks to
support job creation
°°Develop programs that support retention of
students and young professionals in community
Retaining and creating jobs and intellectual capital
An emphasis on local purchasing
Courtesy of Le Moyne College
Table 3.4: Meeting Schedule
Meeting Type
Date
Location
Public Attendance*
REDC-1
8/4/11
SUNY ESF, Onondaga County
NA
Cayuga Voice of the County
8/11/11
Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES, Cayuga
County
87
Oswego Voice of the County
8/14/11
Quality Inn, Oswego County
25
REDC-2 (public participation session)
8/17/11
SUNY OCC, Onondaga County
17
Madison Voice of the County
8/22/11
Madison County Office Building,
Wampsville
14
Region-wide Public Forum 1
8/23/11
Le Moyne College, Onondaga County
150+
9/7/11
SUNY Oswego Metro Center, Syracuse
13
Onondaga Voice of the County
10/5/11
Oncenter, Onondaga County
30
Madison Voice of the County
10/8/11
SUNY Morrisville, Madison County
24
Cortland Voice of the County
10/6/11
10/7/11
Cayuga Community College, Cayuga
County
42
6
Cayuga Voice of the County
10/13/11
Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES, Cayuga
County
36
Oswego Voice of the County
10/18/11
Quality Inn, Oswego County
18
10/19/11
Oncenter, Onondaga County
0
Virtual Town Hall
10/20/11
Broadcast on WSYR 106.9 FM and
570 AM radio
13,000* listenership
Region-wide Public Forum #2
10/20/11
SUNY Oswego, Oswego County
70+
11/7/11
St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center,
Onondaga County
7
Region-wide Public Forum #3
Winter
2011-12
TBD (Cortland County)
TBD
TOTAL
* Source: Clear Channel Radio based on the Average Quarter Hour Audience ratings for adults 18+
*Attendance figures are estimated to be low, as not all attendees signed in.
539+
Table 3.5: Public Participation Plan for the 2011 Strategic Plan Process
Plan Components
Outcomes
Conduct public meetings within each county with key stakeholders
and public groups to help the REDC craft a vision for the region and
gather ideas on:
(1) opportunities and assets
(2) resources to support opportunity
(3) critical issues and strategies
Meetings in four counties were held prior to the first region-wide
meeting on 8/23/11, with a total attendance of about 140 persons.
Notes on the public input from these meetings were shared with the
entire REDC.
Onondaga County’s event was not held prior to 8/23, but that county
was represented by many members of the public during facilitated
sessions at two full council events and the Le Moyne event.
Hold first of three region-wide public forums, to take place at distinct
points in the timeline. The public is also invited to join each meeting
of the full council.
The first region-wide public forum on 8/23/11 at Le Moyne College
drew more than 150 people. This meeting included facilitated
discussions regarding vision and strategies at 12 tables with
10-12 persons at each. All session notes were summarized and
disseminated to the work group and full REDC, and incorporated into
the vision, goals and strategies. A database of contacts for engaged
citizens was initiated based upon voluntary signup.
Conduct six meetings of the full Regional Economic Development
Council
The public attended and participated in four of the full council
meetings, engaging in discussion and report-out to the council.
Continue county meetings between REDC Meetings 3 (9/7/11) and
4 (10/7/11) to seek feedback in order to share with work groups and
council members.
Sessions and attendance:
10/5/11, Madison County, 24 people
10/5/11, Onondaga County, 30 people
10/6/11, Cortland County, 6 people
10/13/11, Cayuga County, 36 people
10/18/11, Oswego County, 18 people
Hold second region-wide public forum between REDC Meetings 4
(10/7/11) and 5 (10/19/11) to seek public input on strategic plan.
The second region-wide session on 10/20/11 at SUNY Oswego
drew more than 70 people for discussion of the plan’s Strategic
Overview, potential policy recommendations, and public engagement
recommendations.
Conduct pro-active outreach through social media, websites,
newspapers, radio, and television throughout the public participation
process.
Designed a brand logo for “Be Heard” (Clear Channel Radio) and
launched a mid-October survey culminating in a live interactive radio
Q&A session with co-chairs as hosts. Survey was completed on
October 26 and nearly 200 persons contributed ideas and feedback.
Hold a region-wide meeting, after the awards are announced, to
receive continued feedback on the whole process and move on next
steps.
Tentatively planned to be held in Cortland County.
Summary
While details of ongoing public engagement plans will be fully
addressed in Section 5, citizens suggested ways they would like
to remain engaged in the coming years, including continued
face to face meetings and multi-media outreach. The Public
Participation Work Group continues to try to identify points
where the public can take ownership of the projects and
process at it moves forward. The “Be Heard” survey also
contains a question regarding “by what criteria should new
projects be assessed?”
While all the elements of this public participation process
produced many detailed, substantive suggestions, questions
remained at each session about the REDC process itself and
our council’s long-term commitment to public engagement.
Many survey respondents expressed a general dissatisfaction
with economic development, and the region and country’s
economic condition. These responses constitute an important
challenge for ongoing public involvement, to ensure the
process is clear, open and accessible. All of these experiences
shape our ongoing public participation strategy of using a
systematic and multi-leveled effort to build a broader sense of
involvement. l
See also appendices:
E.1 Work Group Participation
E.2 Region-wide Public Forum #1 Notes
E.3 Sample feedback from Regional View from County
—Vision, Assets/Opportunities, and Issues
E.4 Region-Wide Public Forum #2 Notes (posted on
CNY Open for Business website)
E.5 Sample feedback from Regional View from County
—Strategic Plan, Policy Recommendations
E.6 BeHeardCNY.com Campaign — Plan and Survey
Questions
49
50
Economic Development
Strategy and
Components
entral New York Regional 4.1 CStrategic Overview
To unlock the great potential of our region’s economic and
social assets, CNY REDC recognizes that collaboration is
essential to leverage greater outcomes for our communities.
We must not only seek greater economic objectives, but we
must do so in a way that addresses the social opportunities
and challenges we have throughout the region. Where
we see economic barriers in the high cost of business,
fragmented government, brain drain, and inequality, we
also see opportunities to leverage public investments and
develop public-private partnerships with anchor institutions
to overcome those challenges and capture our economic
potential.
As identified in Section 3, CNY REDC has identified three
priority goals to guide this work:
Strengthen Targeted Industry Concentrations that
Leverage Unique Economic Assets
significant growth in regional, national, and global demand for
the products and services these industries generate.
To achieve its goal of strengthening targeted industry
concentrations that are leveraging unique economic assets, the
CNY REDC has identified three primary strategies:
 Invest in Existing Regional Industry Concentrations
and Businesses —Solidify the reach of regional
industry clusters into growing global markets to
create a sustainable framework for economic growth,
while also protecting the region from downward
economic trends making our core industrials sector
more competitive and diversified.
 Encourage Cross Industry Collaborations —
Leverage investments across industries and
geographies within our region to spur research and
development, leverage our talented workforces, foster
entrepreneurship and innovation while also making a
greater economic impact in municipal centers.
 Attract Outside Investment and Interest — Recruit
Revitalize our Region’s Urban Cores, Main Streets,
and Neighborhoods
As discussed in detail in Section 2, Central New
York has several critical industry sectors to build upon for
its future prosperity. The sectors represent a cross-section
of both traditional and new economy industries and share
three common criteria: (1) they have a large base of existing
employment in the region; (2) employment in these sectors
is highly concentrated in Central New York; and, (3) there is
new businesses and capital investment into our
region by promoting the benefits of our productive
workforce and our niche products and services in the
global market place.
In pursuing these core strategies, Central New York’s
regional economic development efforts will seek to:
 Maintain its unique economic diversity
 Encourage cross-sector collaborations between
industries with complementary skills, technologies
and market-opportunities because new ideas often
emerge at the intersection of existing knowledge
 Leverage high concentrations of educational and medical
institutions (“eds and meds”) to further advance
research and development within these clusters
 Create quality jobs with a variety of entry points for
workers of different skill levels
4.0 | economic development strategy and components
 Support industries that have a proven track record of
 Build a 21st Century Infrastructure — Construct the
offering career-advancement ladders
virtual and physical infrastructure assets that make
jobs more accessible, make the flow of information
and ideas more efficient, and make the movement of
goods more sustainable, low-cost, and effective.
In order to improve competitiveness at the regional, national,
and global levels, the region will make significant investments
in several critical mechanisms that fuel economic growth
through these five strategies:
 Encourage New Venture Development, Product
Development, and Process Improvement — Create
new businesses and position our industries so
that CNY can remain competitive and nimble in
addressing emerging demands in the national and
global marketplace.
 Prioritize Investments in Research, Innovation, and
Commercialization — Focus our investments in ways
that leverage our “eds and meds” and other existing
assets, build upon our strengths, and demonstrate a
greater return on our investments in the innovation
economy.
 Capture a Greater Share of the Global Marketplace
— Significantly increase the exporting activity of
our region’s strong industry clusters and attract new
foreign investments.
The Port of Oswego connects our industries with markets around the world.
 Maximize Human Capital — In order to improve our
global competitiveness, the region must continue to
maximize human capital, improve alignment between
workforce supply and employer demand, create and
support apprenticeship programs, and attract and
retain students and young professionals.
These critical areas are the foundation for building an
entrepreneurial environment and a sustainable economic
future. They are necessary for creating a continuous flow
of new ideas and working capital that will keep the regional
economy strong, innovative, and collaborative. Through the
implementation of these strategies, Central New York will:
• Maintain and improve its economic diversity
•
Increase its skills base
•
Create new employment opportunities for its
residents
•
Position the region to actively participate in, and
benefit from, economic growth around the globe
51
52
world through their national stature and social and
professional networks.
 Repurpose Existing Infrastructure to Recreate Density
in Development: Investing in our historic buildings and
public places, rather than destroying them, in order to
create a vibrant mixed-use environment of live, work,
and play that reflects our distinct local character.
 Retrain to Develop the Workforce of Tomorrow:
Empowering our most disadvantaged communities
to take greater ownership of their assets and achieve
prosperity by breaking down the social and economic
barriers to education and professional success, while
also reducing public expenditures on social services and
law enforcement.
By deliberately investing in our region’s urban cores and
main streets, we will:
•• Improve the economic engines of our region by
creating quality communities of choice for residents
and employers.
•• Increase residency in our urban cores, thus reducing
the fiscal impacts associated with unmitigated
sprawl and improving spatial efficiency, particularly
the spatial mismatch that exists between housing an
employment opportunities.
•• Increase density and heighten social and economic
activity in our central business districts.
•• Build new human and social capital that is critical
to our ability to innovate and compete in the global
economy and sustain our competitive advantage.
•• Embrace and fully integrate our long-held regional
values in social justice and diversity in ways that
yield greater productivity in the marketplace.
Preble, Cortland County
Photo by Dan Jackson | Courtesy of CenterState CEO
Revitalize our Region’s Urban Cores, Main
Just as the region’s businesses operate in a global economy,
the region’s many residents live and work in an environment
that is defined almost entirely by local and regional factors,
including the quality of our communities and the ability of our
region’s municipalities to provide a competitive environment
for employers while meeting the demand for high-quality
public services.
In pursuing the goal to invest in and strengthen our region’s
cores, the region will implement these three strategies:
 Rethink Our Urban Redevelopment Efforts by
Leveraging the Region’s Exemplary Anchor Institutions
in Education, Health and Medicine, Arts and Culture,
and Philanthropy: Integrating their missions and
physical investments in the community to build stronger
neighborhoods, create a steady supply of talented
workers, enhance the region’s strong quality of life,
and market regional opportunities to the rest of the
Aligning Strategies for a Sustainable Future
in the Global Marketplace
By pursuing these three priority goals as the basis for a
disciplined approach to making local, state, and federal
investment in our region, Central New York will achieve its
vision for strategic, equitable, and sustained prosperity. The
region’s economic diversity is central to its future success.
Likewise, the holistic nature of the region’s strategy will
differentiate Central New York from its peers. The region
will enable the growth and intersection of established target
industries, while simultaneously investing in its communities
and residents in ways that enable long-term global
competitiveness.
Therefore, the transformational projects presented in this
section represent innovation and entrepreneurship—not just
within the industries they may represent, but also stand as
social enterprises that help transform our neighborhoods
and urban cores in ways that make the region more globally
competitive. They build upon collaboration—not just in
managing the economic assets that fuel their development,
but among the public agencies, anchor institutions, and
economic development entities that drive public engagement.
And they promote cross-sector integration—not just in
“Encourage breaking out of doing it the way we’ve already done it.”
—comment, Public Forum #1
the ideas and processes that drive the development and
distribution of products and services, but in the way Central
New York’s families, cultural institutions, and businesses
feed into each other. Collectively, all of the projects listed
in this plan represent investments that maximize the public
good we envision as a region, and they set a foundation for
transformative prosperity across Central New York.
for Transformational Change
4.2A Plan
in Economic Development
Through a strategic partnership with the Brookings Institution,
the region has identified four market levers reflective of our
overarching goals, existing assets and critical opportunities
described in this and earlier sections: regional industrial
clusters; connecting people, jobs, and housing; workforce
alignment; and innovation infrastructure. These levers are
core to our economic development framework—in aligning
the projects and initiatives described below that promise to
have a catalytic impact on our region’s future prosperity. The
council recognizes that funding does not currently exist for
many of these initiatives; however, it strongly recommends the
creation of future support mechanisms that can advance these
transformational projects:
federal sources, catalyzed by $75 million from multiple
New York State sources.
Food-to-Market and Agricultural Programming
Central New York, not unlike the rest of New York
State, has a very diverse food and agriculture system.
There is a wide array of commodity and specialty
crops produced here, including national strengths in
milk and dairy products, meat, produce, poultry and
eggs, forestry, wine, and ornamental horticulture as
well. For example, Central New York’s muck lands give
the region unique commercial crops, such as onions
and lettuce; the warmth of Lake Ontario gives us the
fruit belt; and we are the home of the “Great New
York State Fair” and New York Farm Show. Central
New York is uniquely poised to be the agribusiness
“hub” of New York if it can coordinate its use of
agricultural and natural resources in order to drive
its economy. Creating more robust systems for local
food and regional energy production can dramatically
reduce our carbon footprint, while bolstering mutually
beneficial economic relationships between urban and
rural areas. There are many opportunities for regional
producers to access larger urban markets throughout
the eastern seaboard. Such an initiative will require
significant regional collaboration, shared investments,
and improved infrastructure.
Regional Industrial Clusters
NYE-RIC - New York Energy Regional Innovation Cluster
NYE-RIC is a statewide alliance focused on
accelerating the development and deployment of
innovations to dramatically improve energy efficiency
in buildings. As a national model for revitalizing
rust belt communities, NYE-RIC will create tens
of thousands of good, green/clean-economy jobs
across New York State by harnessing the R&D and
advanced manufacturing assets in upstate, along
with the exceptional strengths in finance, media, and
real estate in the New York City metropolitan area.
The partnership also leverages New York City’s and
the State’s leadership in energy and climate-change
policy. Specifically, NYE-RIC will synchronize research,
development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects
across New York companies; use New York City as a
gateway to global markets for innovations in building
energy efficiency; target energy improvements in
buildings of every size, purpose, and scale; and
strengthen the economic, social, and environmental
vitality of multiple regions across the state. This project
represents a total proposed investment of $225 million
over five years, including $150 million from private and
Madison County dairy farmers attend a presentation on beef safety.
Photo courtesy of Madison County Tourism
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Tourism in the Arts and Culture
Our region has an abundance of arts and cultural
opportunities, with world-class offerings by individual
artist studios to large-scale performance venues. In
between, our college campuses, small neighborhood
galleries, community theaters, and summer festivals
provide the diversity of programming that exemplifies
the quality of life we have to offer to our residents.
The New York State Council on the Arts has been a
valuable resource and partner in Central New York,
supporting the development of emerging artists
and organizations through its Decentralization and
Local Capacity Building Grants, administered by the
Cultural Resources Council (CRC), and ensuring home
grown talent has a chance to flourish. Yet to truly
capitalize on our cultural assets, and our rich American
history, we must access broader audiences and find
ways to leverage community support for the arts to
reach national and international markets. In 2010,
a broad base coalition of community foundations,
the Syracuse Convention and Visitors Bureau, the
CRC, and other partners embarked on the IDEAS
(Initiative for Developing and Engaging Audiences in
Syracuse) Collaborative to expand capacity building
beyond individual artists and cultural venues to create
a coordinated approach to marketing the area to
larger audiences. With the additional development of
the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival, and CNY
Investment in
CNY’s tourism
opportunities
can transform
the region into
an international
cultural
destination.
The Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, Onondaga County
REDC’s continued pursuit to leverage our cultural
assets, New York State has an important role in
supporting and investing in regional collaborations
than can transform our region into an international
cultural destination.
Project “Top Hat”
A Fortune 1,000 financial services firm is considering
a major expansion in multiple regions in upstate New
York. This company currently operates in New York
City, Onondaga County, and other upstate locations.
They have enjoyed benefits related to costs and a
productive workforce in upstate New York and view
the region as attractive for additional expansion in the
areas of accounting and client services. The company
is also exploring other locations in the United States
and internationally. The planned expansion would
have an impact in both the Mohawk Valley and Central
New York regions. In order to accommodate the
anticipated growth, the project will engage institutions
of higher learning in terms of internships, curriculum
development, and employment opportunities.
Connecting People, Jobs, and Housing
Municipal Core Mixed-Use Investment Program
The Restore New York program was one of the few
successful programs that provided needed gap
financing to mixed-use projects of all sizes throughout
the state; however this program ended in 2009.
“Increased access to technology (Internet, cable, broadband)
is needed in many rural areas.”
—Public Comment, CNY REDC 6 meeting
Restore NY provided more than $300 million to
commercial and residential redevelopment projects
throughout the state over three years, leveraged
unprecedented private capital, and proved to be
one of the most transformational municipal core
redevelopment programs in the state’s history. This
program benefits small villages and large urban centers
alike and is critical to getting new commercial and
residential construction moving in CNY’s municipal
cores. New York State must consider the creation of
another round of funding for the Restore NY program
as a component of an urban development strategy.
Broadband / Connectivity Infrastructure
In an increasingly interconnected marketplace,
ubiquitous high-speed, inexpensive broadband Internet
access is a key component to thriving economies
in both urban and rural communities. Broadband
connects companies, both low tech and high-tech,
to local, regional, national, and global markets. It
is a valuable resource for education, research, and
employment opportunities from home offices.
Many rural communities have not felt the benefits
of affordable broadband. This has left a key part of
New York behind, disconnecting its citizens from
each other and the broader economy, and serving as
a disincentive for small companies, even those not
part of the high-tech sector, to start in or relocate to
rural areas. Affordable broadband bridges distance,
allowing telecommuting during bad weather or on a
part- or full-time basis. Broadband also allows farms
and other agricultural producers to participate fully in
an integrated supply chain, connecting the field all the
way to the end user.
Rural areas in Central New York need a strategy to
support investment in broadband, whether through
local cooperatives or by making areas attractive
for traditional commercial players to provide
services. Financial support available from the federal
government coupled with recent changes at the federal
level for allocation of the Universal Service Fund
present opportunities to jumpstart investment in this
sector. The state needs to provide leadership to ensure
that this opportunity is seized to benefit rural areas.
Additionally, high speed broadband is critical for
growing small and midsize companies, regardless
of their location, as they work to connect with the
national and global marketplace. Larger institutions
and companies are able to bypass the local market
or leverage large volumes to force competitive rates,
but smaller companies and institutions remain at
a disadvantage. Again, leadership from the state,
working with our region’s anchor institutions and
public sector agencies, can open opportunities to
develop a better connectivity ecosystem.
Region-Wide Waterfront Revitalization Strategy
Central New York benefits from significant water
opportunities. Our border with Lake Ontario provides
strong commercial and recreational access to the
largest surface freshwater system on the earth. The
Port of Oswego connects our industry through the St.
Lawrence Seaway to global markets. The Finger Lakes
offer one of the great tourism attractions in the United
States, and along with our region’s streams and rivers,
provides one of the greatest sports fisheries in the
world. These waterfronts also provide Central New
York with a myriad of opportunities for waterfront
development. Recognizing our region’s potential,
Catalytix (2003) wrote in Blueprint for Creative
Growth, “Creative workers prefer places with a diverse
range of outdoor recreational activities. Access to
water and water based recreation seems to be of
particular importance to these workers….Upstate New
York is home to numerous outstanding recreational
water opportunities, including the Finger Lakes. Its
water to land ratio exceeds 20 of the 25 benchmark
regions.”
To unlock the full economic potential that our
waterfronts and waterways provide, New York State
can be a leader in developing focused waterfront
programs that leverage local investments in:
• Urban and small town revitalization. Auburn,
Cortland, Fulton, Oswego, Baldwinsville,
Brewerton and Syracuse all have significant
waterfront revitalization opportunities in mixeduse development;
•
Business recruitment for companies that are
large water users, such as breweries or the
semiconductor industry;
•
Low-cost, clean hydroelectric power systems;
•
Promotion and marketing in recreation and
tourism; and
•
The Port of Oswego, which can be used to ship
goods throughout the northeast and the Midwest
US and Canada through the Great Lakes linkages
and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Workforce Alignment
The first-ever, district-wide implementation of Say Yes
to Education in the City of Syracuse is poised to be a
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visionary, citywide turnaround model for education
and economic development in urban centers across
the nation. Building upon a collaborative governance
model with a strong commitment to transparency and
cross sector participation, Say Yes will not only remove
one of the major barriers to urban re-densification by
creative vibrant, productive schools, it can produce
the talent required by our key industry clusters. Since
2009, graduation rates have increased nearly 5%, and
the percent of students attending college increased
nearly 20%. In 2011, the city schools experienced an
increase of enrollment for the first time in 10 years with
320 new students. In just over a one-year period, 9th
grade students passing Regents algebra increased 31%,
and the number of 9th grade students who dropped
out or were inactive declined 44%. While this data
represents early results in the City of Syracuse, Central
New York is advancing Say Yes to Education to make a
regional impact.
Say Yes Summer Academies: Say Yes to Education
proposes to operate summer success academies
for graduating high school students from across
the five-county region to prepare them for college
success. This program is designed to support high
school graduates who have been admitted to college
but test into at least one developmental course, and
are from low-income backgrounds. Four- to six-week
academies will be operated at public and community
colleges for matriculating college students. Each
academy will ensure students have a career focus as
they enter the higher education environment, thereby
addressing the number one reason cited in research
as to why students drop out. Career development
will center on many of the region’s targeted idustry
concentrations and employers. A selection process will
identify deeply committed students who will benefit
from additional academic preparation. Programs will
also address organizational skills, and how to navigate
college resources to attain academic and professional
success. Students who participate in the Say Yes
Summer Success Academy will receive a last dollar
tuition scholarship to attend four years of schooling
at a SUNY or CUNY campus. In its full capacity, the
summer academies are anticipated to cost $11 million
per year, with a request to New York State for $2.25
million to leverage significant local investment from
private and public sources.
Say Yes Higher Education Compact Scholarship:
Strategic investment is needed in the Say Yes
Higher Education Compact Scholarship Fund ($1
million) and for the expansion of Say Yes Corporate
Compact ($250,000) into regional models that drive
sustainable increases in postsecondary attainment
and regional economic development (e.g. increased
home values, increased public school enrollment,
decreased crime rates, and decreased cost of public
assistance services). The aligned creation of a CNY
Higher Education Compact and a CNY Corporate
Compact will ensure that both higher education and
the business community are connected and integrated
across the region to increase the employee and
employer base.
Innovation Infrastructure
Innovate Upstate Fund
Over the past decade, upstate New York has developed
a robust innovation ecosystem. More than $2 billion
annually is being invested in R&D at upstate academic
institutions, and a strong support infrastructure has
been developed to accelerate the development of early
stage companies, many of which are spin-offs created
through the downsizing of major manufacturers. The
result is a strong pipeline of “investment worthy”
ventures that offer high growth-return potential, but
lack the seed capital infrastructure that will enable
them to remain and grow in upstate New York.
There is a critical funding challenge facing
entrepreneurs in emerging technology sectors who
are in the critical stage of incubation, early stage
development, and acceleration. New York State does
not have a continuum of funding programs to assist
“gazelle” companies, which are typically in sectors tied
to regional strengths such as information technology,
advanced manufacturing, biotechnology and life
sciences, microelectronics, clean tech, renewable
energy and environmental systems, and other
emerging technologies. At a pre-revenue or early
revenue stage, these promising companies are not
candidates for financing from conventional sources,
such as banks, private equity groups, or through public
finance program, such as federal loan guarantee
programs.
As the deal pipeline matures across Central New
York, the timing and opportunity are now for the
creation a regional fund, the Innovate Upstate Fund,
to seed investments from the $50,000 to $2 million
range, with an average investment from $50,000
to $500,000. Considerable research has gone into
potential deal flow in upstate New York by such groups
as Excell Partners, JumpStart NY, and others, and there
is well demonstrated capacity to produce returns.
The Innovate Upstate Fund will help seed the most
promising ventures across the region, working with
professional fund management through a competitive
process. It will provide critical risk capital to accelerate
the launch of more startup companies, accelerate
their trajectory through early stage development and
technology commercialization, and help realize the
promise of the innovation economy.
The identification of these market levers and
transformational opportunities require continued action and
partnerships at the local, state, and national levels. Locally,
The New York
Energy Regional
Innovation
Cluster, based at
the SyracuseCoE,
is creating jobs
and engaging
more than 200
companies and
institutions
across the State.
CNY REDC encourages the recipients of public sector financing
to reinvest in revolving funds to further advance our collective
transformational opportunities. In so doing, Central New
York should further leverage limited public investments by
creating sustained funding streams for advancing the arts,
research, innovation, and the inclusion of public art and green
infrastructure in our public spaces, among other priorities.
CNY REDC will work with Central New York’s leadership
across local, state, and federal levels to address the policy
barriers that constrain these collaborations, and will continue
to empower the private and public sector partnerships that our
transforming our region.
4.3Strategies, Tactics, & Priority Projects
Guiding the attainment of our priority regional goals and
the transformational initiatives are a series of strategies and
tactics CNY REDC developed through engagement with the
community, stakeholders and working groups. The following
describes a comprehensive, deliberative approach to growing
our region over the next five years, and also describes how
CNY REDC’s shovel-ready priority projects fit into our
development plans for this year’s current funding.
Over and over in developing our regional strategies
we acknowledge and rely heavily on the deep and diverse
base of intellectual capital that resides in the region’s public
and private colleges and universities, although nowhere more
profoundly than in this, our first goal: Strengthen Targeted
Industry Concentrations that Leverage Unique Economic
Assets.
The multitude of industry clusters feeds into curriculum
development, research activity, and product development
within our colleges and universities, producing great assets
unique to Central New York. Not only are those colleges and
universities the source of innovation and research activity and
a catalyst for commercialization, they are also the source of a
trained workforce to drive further and further growth.
Examples of this co-facilitation are explicit in the green
technology, agribusiness, and health care sectors where
great facilities, companies, and public and private assets have
driven equally great programs in higher education, and the
development of such collaborative projects as the Syracuse
Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems
(SyracuseCoE), the Central New York Biotechnology Research
Center, and others.
As mentioned in previous sections, our region has
repeatedly not only been identified, but sought out and
recognized by national economic think tanks and private
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Seward House in Auburn
Photo by Kristian Reynolds | Courtesy of Cayuga County Tourism
foundations, such as CEOs for Cities, the Surdna Foundation,
the Brookings Institution, Kauffman Foundation, and the Ford
Foundation, for its unique array of business and educational
partnerships. As such, Central New York will leverage its
unique economic assets by deploying the following strategies
and tactics:
Strategy: Invest in Existing Regional Industry
Concentrations and Businesses
In order to capitalize on opportunities, maximize
existing investments and asset bases, and exploit our
high intellectual capital and industry strengths, we have
identified six industry concentrations upon which we
intend to focus and further develop, both in the short and
long term:
a. Clean Energy and Environmental Systems
The commercial activity and business assets
in this concentration are in green energy and
environmental systems, biomass thermal
energy systems, and clean and renewable
energy sources, as well as technology and
research grounded in our natural resources,
abundant clean water, controlled environmental
agriculture and nuclear energy. These entities
are supported by synergistic and complementary
firms in biosciences, manufacturing, engineering,
architecture, construction, and transportation.
CEES collaborations have consistently led to
innovation through the NY Indoor Environmental
Quality Center, Environmental Quality Systems
STAR Center, SyracuseCoE and The Clean
Tech Center. The work of these centers has
a collaborative outreach and synergistic
connection to other industries, including
electronics, instrumentation, agriculture, and
materials/resource management.
To continue the growth of this unique industry
cluster, Central New York will implement the
following tactics:
i.
Prioritize use of the SyracuseCoE
headquarters cluster growth activities
— Support ongoing research and proof
of concept demonstrations, and utilize
the SyracuseCoE as a showcase for new
products from CNY Firms.
ii.
Support existing cluster growth assets —
Secure new state and federal funding for
the SyracuseCoE and NYE-RIC. Sustain the
Clean Tech Center at the Syracuse Tech
Garden.
iii.
Support and encourage the
commercialization of disruptive
technologies — Work with existing regional
business in this sector to develop and deploy
new technololgies to meet global demand
iv.
Integrate CEES products into local
revitalization efforts — Use CNY
neighborhoods, businesses, and
governments as a living lab for the
deployment of regionally developed
technologies.
v.
Build connections and partnerships —
Strengthen connections and partnerships
of CNY firms to top CEES international and
domestic growth markets.
vi.
Adopt LEED standards — Support the
adoption of LEED standards for municipal
projects and private development.
vii.
Advocate for a Renewable Energy
Certificate market — Develop and
implement a plan to advocate for a
Renewable Energy Certificate market in New
York and reduce energy expenditures that
leave this state.
b.
To initially address these tactics, Central New York strongly
recommends the support of the following projects in this
current funding cycle:
•
NYE-RIC Advanced Building Consortium R &
D Labs at the Syracuse Center of Excellence
(SyracuseCoE) (Onondaga County) — Funding is
needed to fit-out available space at the SyracuseCoE
for new research and development labs specifically
focused on New York Energy Regional Innovation
Cluster opportunities, including fuel-cells; combined
heat and power systems; smart grid applications;
photovoltaic and wind power generation; and battery
and energy power storage.
Costs: $8.7 million
Jobs: 40 new/20 construction
Amount Recommended: $3 million
•
Healthway Home Products, Inc — Plant Expansion
(Oswego County) — Healthway Home Products is
proposing an 18,000-square-foot plant expansion in
Pulaski, N.Y. (Oswego County). The expansion will
substantially increase the company’s capacity to
manufacture allergy purification equipment for the
global hotel industry.
Costs: $1.4 million
Jobs: 27 new
Amount Recommended: $100,000
•
Fulton Companies – Growing Manufacturing
Employment through Commercializing Low
Emissions R&D Projects (Oswego County) –
Completion of a 112,000-square-foot plant expansion
to permit the manufacture of large steam boilers and
low emissions boilers for industrial applications for a
global market, including China.
Costs: $2.7 million
Jobs: 25 new/15 retained
Amount Recommended: $900,000 excelsior tax
credits
•
Ephesus Technologies (Onondaga County) —A
lighting innovation company and Tech Garden tenant is
commercializing new LED lighting technologies plans
to relocate to a new research and design headquarters
while also building manufacturing and testing capacities
at its facilities throughout the state.
Total Project Cost: $8.99 million
Jobs: 24 new
This broad cluster has become one of the region’s
strongest employers, showing steady, sustained growth
and increasing diversity. While these sectors are each
distinct and unique, the cumulative cluster strength
of biosciences, health care, and biomedical services
provides great business and education synergies.
Biosciences research and business organizations and
health care institutions in the region are supported by
several medical schools and leading bioscience, pharma,
and medical device companies.
Nationally recognized quality health care
institutions, such as Upstate University Hospital and St.
Joseph’s Hospital Health Center, are investing hundreds
of millions of dollars in capital infrastructure, upgrades,
and expansions as well as in neighborhood investments
and cross-sector partnerships. These institutions
and others, such as Crouse Hospital, are recognized
nationally for quality of care, but are also access
points for hundreds of millions of dollars in private
and public funding for medical/health care education
initiatives; new partnerships in health care regarding
access, alignment, and quality/access of care; and the
development of new medical device technologies and
demonstration projects. Additionally Central New York
is a host community of a Nationally Federal Qualified
Health Center (Syracuse Community Health Center), a
unique pipeline of federal funding.
New York State hosts the fourth-largest bioscience
cluster in the United States, and our region’s history in
biosciences is rooted in the corporate headquarters of
international bioscience and advanced manufacturing
companies, such as Hanford Pharmaceuticals
and Bristol Myers Squibb, and continuing global
headquarters for such leaders as Welch Allyn and
InfiMed. MedTech, the industry trade association for
the bioscience community in upstate New York is a
national leader among state bioscience associations
and is headquartered in Central New York. The strong
presence of both medical device manufacturing
and large health care institutions provide many
opportunities for real-time product development
and commercialization, and create an ecosystem of
industry-specific resources supporting the growth of
startups and small bioscience companies—encouraging
investment in new products and R&D.
Fundamentally, the region’s assets in this cluster
provide a unique continuity in the development (strong
educational institutions), production (strong advanced
manufacturing sector) and vetting (many, highly
regarded clinical environments) of medical devices and
other bioscience products.
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To further catalyze the growth of this critical
industry, Central New York will implement the following
tactics:
i.
Promote new ventures by aligning assets with
related industry clusters — Partner with other
strong business clusters to create a dedicated
R&D/Innovation Space, such as the CNY
Biotechnology Research Center, and St. Joseph’s
Hospital/Welch Allyn’s Floor of the Future
project.
ii.
Develop and deploy technologies to improve
the quality of care and reduce cost of care —
Expand capabilities in the areas of tele-heath,
telemedicine and electronic health records.
Continue regional commitment to electronic
health record adoption and HealtheConnections
health information exchange.
iii.
Encourage existing companies to advance new
products and processes — Foster a stable and
supportive environment to assist companies to
bring new products to market and invest in new
advanced manufacturing techniques. In addition,
redevelop key brownfield sites for possible re-use
by growing bioscience companies.
iv.
Provide medical and bioscience workforce
alignment services — Prioritize attraction,
retention, and retraining programs for the
regional health care (through programs such as
Health Train) and bioscience workforce (through
programs such as a replication of iSciWNY, and
expansion of the National Science Resources
Center), with a particular focus on programs
to fill persistently unfilled positions. Create a
health care credentialing process to allow skilled
immigrants to enter and thrive in health care
related jobs, and an expanded GxP programs
specific to the biosciences industry.
v.
Support the growth of start-ups and small
bioscience companies — Create industry specific
resources, like a regional bio-incubator and
entrepreneurial acceleration program, through
the continued build-out of the Biotechnology
Research Center.
vi.
Encourage the growth of medical tourism —
Partner with medical providers and tourism
promotion organizations to craft and deploy
targeted medical tourism campaigns to high
growth foreign and domestic markets.
vii.
Increase regional wellness and preventative
health measures — Focus efforts on reducing
health care burden on public finances.
viii.
Increase and promote regional health
collaborations — Reduce duplication and waste
in the health care delivery system, lowering costs
for providers, business and consumers.
ix.
Expand capacity for ambulatory primary care
— Improve access to care in our rural areas and
reduce costs of care for consumers.
•
Completion of the CNY Biotechnology Research
Center (Onondaga County) — A bioscience
incubator is planned to open in June 2012 located
at Kennedy Square in a brownfield redevelopment
project already underway in the heart of the City
of Syracuse. This incubator will provide startup
laboratory and development space, currently in short
supply and in high demand across the region and the
state.
Total Project Costs: $24.7 million
Amount Recommended: $1.95 million
•
Demolish and abate vacant structures and land for
the biotech park at Kennedy Square (Onondaga
County) — Owned by SUNY Upstate Medical
University, this vacant blighted public housing
project encompasses 14 acres in need of demolition
and redevelopment. With the CNY BRC currently
under construction on the site, nine additional
acres will become “Shovel-Ready,” with limited
environmental issues to resolve, and prepare it for
high-quality private-sector development.
•
Total Project Costs: $229 million
Amount recommended: $ 3.6 million
•
St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center (Phase 2B
Expansion) (Onondaga County) — This facility
expansion, part of the hospital’s long-range plan
to help meet the community’s growing demand
for services, will include private rooms, intensive
care units, and a new operating room suite with
capability to handle hybrid technology. Several green
energy initiatives are expected to reduce annual
greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 2,200 metric
tons, supporting regional, state, and federal energy
conservation goals.
•
Total project cost: $138.65 million
•
United Health Care (Onondaga County) —
UnitedHealthcare seeks to locate its Regional Center
serving six states to 30,000 square feet of currently
available office and storefront space in downtown
Syracuse. The Regional Center will offer services that
include health care access and community outreach,
telephonic services addressing the areas of clinical
outreach, long-term care, case management, and
Medicaid and Medicare outreach.
•
Amount Recommended: $250,000 capital,
$3 million excelsior tax credits
c.
Financial Services
The region has established itself as strong in the
financial services cluster primarily because (1) it
possesses a critical mass of financial services and
insurance firms, (2) has a significant talent supply,
which is extremely cost competitive with other financial
services locations and (3) the cost of space and
operations is lower in CNY than other financial services
locations.
To continue capturing and increase the economic
opportunities presented by this growing industry sector,
Central New York will implement the following tactics:
i.
Expand existing business outreach and
marketing program — Efforts are already
underway with the Central Upstate Regional
Alliance that uses business executives to identify
prospects, arrange client meetings, and build
relationships
ii.
Align educational programming to respond to
particular skill demand — Create new programs,
such as a fund accounting curriculum, to support
current financial services attraction efforts.
Support risk management program at SUNY
Oswego, which directly supports the region’s
insurance industry
iii.
Invest in Cybersecurity research and connect
with internship opportunities
iv.
v.
d.
Leverage collaborations that provide for
real-world engagement between researchers
and students, such as Syracuse University’s
partnership with JPMorgan Chase.
Target pre-screened financial services
prospects — Streamline incentives and approval
process for prospects with the potential to have a
transformational, cross-regional impact, such as
Project “Top Hat.”
Regional assets in agribusiness and food processing
are extraordinary with a number of leading national
agribusiness and food production companies located in
Central New York, such as nationally recognized market
leaders in meat packaging, yogurt, and other products
(e.g., HP Hood is the largest producer of eggnog; G&C
Distributors is the East Coast’s largest meat distributor).
The existing Dairylea Cooperative processing center, the
largest dairy cooperative in the Northeast United States,
is a supply chain and market asset due to its strength
and size. New food development opportunities exist to
serve a growing Latino population. Further invaluable to
this specific sector, CNY has a large, skilled agriculture
manufacturing workforce. Central New York also has
strengths in unique commercial crops (e.g. onions and
lettuce), a productive fruit-belt thanks to the warmth
of Lake Ontario, and is the host community of the State
Fair, a statewide agribusiness showcase and attraction.
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“Central New York is a significant contributor and increasingly focused on
value-added opportunities for agri-business.”
—Madison Voice of the County
In support of the one of the state’s historic and
longstanding economic strengths, Central New York will
implement the following tactics:
i.
Expand “food to market” programs and
partnerships
ii.
Provide economic assistance to food
processors and value-added agriculture
— Partner with the state to develop an
economic assistance program targeted
specifically for food processors and value
added agriculture. Programs could include
a dedicated fund to construct methane
digesters on locally owned farms.
iii.
Launch a new agricultural product
development initiative — Initiative would
iv.
v.
vi.
help farms/businesses respond to growing
domestic and international market demand
for ethnic and unique vegetables.
Fill the demand for on-farm workers—
Establish a training center to address the
shortage of skilled, on-farm workers. This
center could specifically target and partner
with refugee and immigrant resettlement
programs.
Invest and incentivize adoption of advanced
manufacturing processes in agribusiness
Link agriculture to broader regional tourism
effort
To initially address these tactics, Central New York strongly recommends the support of the following projects in this current
funding cycle:
•
Cayuga Ingredients LLC Milk Processing Plant (Cayuga County) — This project would expand milk processing
capabilities in Cayuga County with the addition of new building space and critical equipment. Seventy six percent of the
products from the expanded facility will be exported internationally.
Total Project Costs: $88 million
Amount Recommended: $1.5 million / $2.5 million excelsior tax credits
•
Champlain Valley Specialty - Food Manufacturing (Oswego County) — This project would re-use a vacant onion
processing plant and a warehousing facility in Oswego to create a fruit processing and packaging facility supplied by
Central New York and Finger Lakes fruit farms.
Jobs: 60 new jobs
Amount Recommended: $800,000 excelsior tax credits
•
Aquaculture Expansion at Morrisville State College (Madison County) — This project would expand a controlled
environment, mixed-use aquaculture, and greenhouse facility utilizing green technologies to facilitate new opportunities
in next-generation food production.
Total Project Costs: $800,000
Jobs: 10 new
•
NY Beef Farmers Cooperative (Multi County) — Vertically Integrated Further-Processing and Marketing Enterprise —
A further-processing facility, retail storefront, and wholesale distribution hub to be built in Madison County in 2012. The
enterprise is centered around co-op-owned meat to supply regional and wholesale markets.
Jobs: 10 new
•
Owera Vineyards (Madison County) —A new winery and community farm on 58 acres adjacent to Cazenovia Lake will
construct a winery building and barn be used for wine production, tastings, and related events. The project also includes
the purchase of machinery and equipment, and related site development. Owera is the first winery in county and adds
to the region’s growing beverage trail.
e.
Advanced Manufacturing
As mentioned in previous
sections of this plan, the
Battelle Institute recently
outlined “High Potential
Technology Clusters for
Central New York,” which
included the biosciences,
digital and electronic
devices, environmental
systems, packaging, and
precision metalworking as
asset clusters presenting
great opportunity in this
region. Additionally,
labor and workforce data
demonstrates Central New
York has additional strengths
in pharma, biotechnology,
air quality, and medical
devices. These assets
have evolved over time
from a history shaped by
manufacturing prowess and
innovation, and a diversity
of business enterprises
which leant themselves to
the array of competencies
seen presently. Our rich
CNY strengths in biotechnology, biosciences, and medical devices, among others, provide significant wealth and
manufacturing history itself employment in the region.
is an asset in Central New
York. Moreover, Central
New York’s location at
To continue the sustainable growth of this critical
the center of the State, and perfectly positioned at
industry sector, Central New York will implement the
the intersection of Routes 81 and 90 presents further
following tactics:
growth opportunities. Most of the markets targeted and
i.
Develop advanced accelerator and R&D
accessed by the region’s manufacturers are global, and
space — Complete the Nanotechnology
present the prospect of further growth in exporting, if
Innovation and Commercialization
given appropriate supports.
Excelerator(NICE) to serve defense, radar,
One of the greatest strengths of the New York State
and sensor industries. Support Central New
manufacturing sector is its understanding of the value
York’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle application
of a highly skilled worker. An emphasis on skilled labor
to the Federal Aviation Administration.
driven by the demands of a historically manufacturing
ii.
Foster local supply chain usage and
focused economy in years past has allowed New York
integration — Create a Central New York
State manufacturers to remain sustainable, expand their
strategy to promote supply chain usage
production, and grow their business. There is further
and development. Identify key supply chain
opportunity to transfer the traditional manufacturing
providers who reside outside the state and
skills of the regional workforce to new high tech (i.e.
seek to attract them to the region.
CEES) industries and the developing clusters named
iii.
Invest in existing infrastructure assets —
above.
Continue to develop infrastructure assets,
like industrial parks and existing advanced
manufacturing sites.
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iv.
v.
Deliver robust workforce alignment and
development programming — Further
develop cluster focused learning and
training through new manufacturing sector
certification programs. Engage Pre-K-12
students in manufacturing related skills
development and career ladders through
science, technology, engineering, and math
(STEM) education and training.
Assist in expansion and retention efforts of
region’s anchor advanced manufacturers
— Firms like Welch Allyn, Anaren,
Saab Sensis, Lockheed Martin, Novelis,
Inficon, Pall, McQuay, Nucor, Marquardt
Switches, Inc. , Felix Schoeller Technical
vi.
vii.
papers, Hutamaki Consumer Packaging,
Owl Wire and Itt/Gould Pumps provide
significant employment and wealth for the
region; their continued growth efforts must
be supported.
Expands efforts to reduce costs common to
manufacturing — High utility and workers
compensation costs continue to stymie the
growth of this industry cluster.
Streamline state supported economic
assistance programs — Increase outreach
to advanced manufacturing sector
companies and identify ways to improve the
interaction between companies and state
agencies.
To initially address these tactics, Central New York strongly recommends the support of the following projects in this current
funding cycle:
•
C-Speed Advanced Technology Manufacturing Center Expansion (Onondaga County) — C-Speed has developed and
will bring to market air surveillance radar to mitigate wind turbine clutter.
Costs: $3.45 million
Jobs: 225 new
Amount Recommended: $250,000 capital, $6 million excelsior tax credits
•
Currier Plastics (Cayuga County) – Plant Expansion — Currier desires to complete a plant expansion to meet increasing
demand for its products.
Costs: $7 million
Jobs: 40 new / 100 retained
Amount Recommended: $750,000 capital, $1 million excelsior tax credit
•
Cooper Crouse Hinds R&D Lab (Onondaga County) — Expansion of research lab for product development and
improvement and rationalization
Costs: $2 million
Jobs: 9 new (4 lab techs, 5 engineers) / 29 retained
Amount Recommended: $500,000 excelsior tax credits
•
Dupli Inc. Transition to New Printing Technologies (Onondaga County) — Acquisition of new printing machine and
technology and plant expansion that will allow Dupli to allow transition to new and efficient envelope printing process.
Costs: $700,000
Jobs: 10 new
Amount Recommended: $245,000 capital, $250,000 excelsior tax credits
•
Huhtamaki (Oswego County) — This project will add new manufacturing capability to the Fulton plant. Additional
equipment will add 200 million units of additional capacity, will help the company reach new markets, and will retain
hundreds of jobs in the community.
Total Project Cost: $4 million
Amount Recommended: $1 million excelsior tax credits
•
Cortland Plastics (Cortland County) — A rapidly growing extrusion blow-molding custom plastics manufacturer located on
Main Street in Cortland, Cortland Plastics will add equipment and manufacturing capacity as a result of growing customers
and sales.
Costs : $680,000
Jobs : 10 new
•
Clay Business Park Development (Onondaga County) – Build out of publicly owned business park that can
accommodate shovel-ready private greenfield investment from large or small manufacturers.
Costs : $6.2 million
Jobs : 104 construction / 1,000 potential
Strategy: Encourage Cross-Industry Collaborations
Though supporting the individual growth of the region’s
core industry clusters remains a priority, traditional
economic development efforts can no longer view these
clusters in a compartmental manner. Opportunities
abound in the intersection between these clusters and
this is often the area where true innovation and economic
growth can occur.
To promote integration across sectors of the Central
New York economy, regional economic development
activities will focus on the following tactics:
i.
Encourage business and higher
education collaboration — Form a council
of businesses and higher education
professionals to drive workforce and
curriculum development efforts for our
target industry sectors.
ii.
Capitalize on alumni connections — More
aggressively mine the significant alumni
networks for workforce opportunities as
well as business connections, network
development and opportunities in facility
siting and relocation of jobs.
iii.
Transpose workforce assets across
business sectors — Leverage skills
developed to grow particular sectors to
support the workforce demands of the
region’s additional strong business sectors.
Strategy: Attract Outside Investment and Interest
A key method to building wealth in a region is the
attraction of new customers and sales from outside of
the region or the country. Opportunities abound to both
attract new businesses, especially ones aligning with
our regional industry strengths, and also foster growth
of conventions and new visitors to the region’s tourism
destinations.
a. Attract New Business Through Regional Outreach
and Marketing
To attract investment and jobs to the region from
businesses already located here who are looking to
expand, or from businesses who have no current
operations within the region, efforts will focus on the
following tactics:
i.
Pursue businesses that can benefit from
regional assets — Identify a set of unique
regional assets, including such items as
existing businesses, workforce, R&D,
natural resources and facilities and pursue
businesses that operate in sectors which
could benefit from those assets.
ii.
Use a proactive marketing and attraction
approach — Use personal visits, prospecting
calls, direct mail, targeted emails, trade
shows, regional web sites, and advertising to
educate and attract those businesses.
iii.
b.
Engage directly with site selectors —
Develop relationships with national site
selection professionals who site projects in
the business sectors which align with the
regions assets.
Expand Tourism and Regional Visitation
The Central New York region’s history and culture is
rich and nationally significant from the abolitionist
movement and the Underground Railroad to the Erie
Canal to suffrage efforts leading the country into newly
defined freedoms and human rights. These inherent
assets alone would serve any region’s tourism initiatives
well, but this region also boasts tremendous arts assets,
such as the Everson Museum in Syracuse, an emerging
and diverse theater initiative in Auburn, the Coalition
of Museums and Arts Centers of Syracuse University,
a wealth of grassroots arts galleries and micro public
arts movements, professional and collegiate athletics, a
multicultural palate of tremendous dining opportunities,
and natural water and land resources of the Finger
Lakes, Lake Ontario, the Thousand Islands, and the Erie
Canal are valuable assets.
To align tourism promotion programs and truly make
Central New York a vibrant destination region, Central
New York will pursue the following tactics:
i.
Complete tourism and convention
enhancement assets — Finish development
of a Convention Center Hotel in Downtown
Syracuse
ii.
Engage regional businesses in convention
attraction efforts — Use local businesses
and individuals who have memberships
in regional, statewide, and national
associations and groups to facilitate
convention attraction efforts.
iii.
Partner with statewide and adjacent
regional efforts — Partner with ‘NY is Open
for Business’ and ‘I Love NY’ campaigns
to increase external awareness of region’s
amenities.
iv.
Further expand and deploy existing regional
brands — The Creative Core brand has
become recognized across the northeast.
An additional asset, the Creative Core
Connect mobile app, has just been launched.
v.
Coordinate tourism promotion — Develop
coordinated packaging, signage, event
planning, and beautification initiatives.
Coordinate a collaboration and marketing
of individual local tourism businesses and
organizations to provide uniform outreach
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vi.
capacity. Further, new, nonconventional
partnerships should be formed that
celebrate the region’s unique assets, such as
highly skilled immigrant communities.
Create regional programs among arts and
cultural organizations: Initiatives like the
Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival have
high potential to produce sustained tourism
returns to the region while growing access
to national and international audiences.
concerns, such as taxes, regulatory hurdles, difficult to navigate
processes such as permitting and licensing, and energy costs.
The council recognizes that these policy changes will require
time, additional resources, and political will to resolve.
To its advantage, the Central New York region has a solid
head start on implementing a regionally based, industry cluster
driven economic development strategy. The region will build on
this foundation for the continued growth through strengthening
and supporting the most competitive industries sectors that
align with the region’s unique assets and workforce strengths.
Improve Competitiveness in and Connections to,
•
Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival (Cayuga
County) — This project involves the development
of three new theatre venues, as well as the other
facilities needed to support a summer-long, multivenue theatre festival based in and around Auburn,
New York. Funds from this grant will be used to
construct the scenic and set production facilities
that will support the new venues, including a new
$7.7 million multi-use performance center that is
under development.
Jobs: 19 new / 63 new seasonal / 59 construction,
•
Abbott House Renovation (Cayuga County) — This
project involves the renovation of a historic property
in Aurora, New York, to expand the room and
convention inventory for the Inns of Aurora.
Jobs: 35 new / 100 construction / 100 retained
Resolving Critical Issues
While not every existing industry within the region will be
positioned for sustained or continued growth, the strategies
and tactics outlined above are designed to achieve a positive
impact on the regional economy as a whole by focusing limited
resources on the most competitive, fastest growing industries.
This approach also addresses the issue of low wages, as most
of the priority industry clusters pay a higher than average
annual wage. It also addresses unemployment, as the region’s
fastest growing employers are within these industry clusters,
offering jobs across many skill levels.
The “high cost of doing business in New York State” is still a
perceived and real barrier for companies in the state, as well as
companies considering moving or expanding their operations
into New York. Page 79 of this strategy section details several
public policy recommendations for addressing ongoing
increasingly competitive marketplace. Currently 95 percent
of the world’s consumers, as well as 30 of the fastest growing
metros, are located outside of North America. The fastest
growing economies in the world are in Asia, the Middle
East, and South America. The region exports 10 percent of
its regional output—approximately $3.2 billion—to global
markets. Improving export performance is critical to the
long-term competitiveness of the region. Export-driven jobs
also provide higher-wages for the region’s residents. Our
second strategic priority goal, Improving Competitiveness
in, and Connections to, the Regional, National, and Global
Economies, naturally advances our first goal, Strengthening
Targeted Industry Concentrations that are Leveraging Unique
Economic Assets.
We are well positioned to see great success from a
dedicated effort to increase our global connectivity and
export activity. The region’s geographic position is an asset
in our effort to attract new foreign investment from global
companies looking to serves domestic markets. More than
half the population of the United States and Canada is located
within 750 miles of the region, and this geographic advantage
is enhanced by comparatively competitive real estate and labor
costs. According to the Brookings Institution, our proximity to
the Canadian border, the global ports of New York, New Jersey,
and the presence of our own port in Oswego are incredible
infrastructure assets to this region. The region has unmatched
natural resources and comparatively competitive real estate
and labor costs. Central New York has a unique diversity
in terms of firm size and industry to support an increase in
exporting of goods and services. The region is also noted for
its collaborative and effective approach towards growth. These
assets provide a strong foundation to be competitive within the
global economy.
We are also well positioned to support the continued
growth and development of an infrastructure to fuel regional
innovation and entrepreneurship. As discussed previously, our
research and development capabilities are significant, with
strong research programs at Syracuse University, SUNY ESF,
and SUNY Upstate Medical University. Regional economic
development organizations, like CenterState CEO, have
prioritized programming dedicated directly entrepreneurial
“Promote and expand on opportunities for mentoring.”
—public comment, redc 6 meeting
startup and growth services. Further, there is a broad umbrella
of support services, programs, and resources in Central New
York for small business development.
Supporting this infrastructure are extraordinary
community-based assets. The region is home to some of the
top-ranked entrepreneurial programs in the country, including
Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management,
home to the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship, South Side
Innovation Center (13,500-square-foot incubator serving
Syracuse’s distressed South Side) and such flagship programs
as Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (WISE),
along with Entrepreneurial Assistance Programs (EAP)
initiatives for veteran entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship infuses the curricula across all disciplines
at Syracuse University, and there are also strong programs
at Le Moyne, Wells, Morrisville State College, SUNY ESF,
SUNY Cortland, Tompkins Cortland Community College and
Cayuga Community College. Community-based incubators
support entrepreneurs in Madison County (Nelson Farms
food incubator) and Cayuga County (Stardust Entrepreneurial
Institute in Auburn), and new facility being developed in
downtown Cortland. Upstate Medical University and SUNY
College of Environmental Science and Forestry are engaged
in the development of a major CNY Biotechnology Research
Center, which will be a focus of innovation and new venture
development in that sector.
increasingly competitive marketplace. Central New York’s
highly educated workforce forms the foundation for those
investments, as does its unique concentration of high-quality
higher-education, research and development expertise, and
proximity to the Canadian border and global ports of New York
City and Newark, N.J. As such, Central New York will ensure
sustained competiveness in the global market by pursuing the
following actions:
Encourage New Venture Development, Product
Development, and Process Improvement
Building a robust innovation ecosystem is the backbone
of bringing knowledge to market, driving new ideas
that lead to the products, technologies, and services of
tomorrow. It is therefore essential that programs and
systems be in place to provide the region’s businesses
(large and small), and entrepreneurs with the resources
to grow their ideas and new ventures into viable
enterprises. If successful, these strategies will create
jobs, launch and grow businesses, and strengthen
those industries that the region has identified as most
competitive.
a.
Build a World-Class Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
To ensure that Central New York is prepared to build
a world-class entrepreneurial ecosystem it must
capitalize on the incredible strength of the region’s
existing support infrastructure for entrepreneurship,
its academic and research assets, and its diverse
and highly educated workforce. It is also essential,
however, to address critical gaps in the venture
development pipeline through new strategies,
resources, and programs.
To build a world-class entrepreneurial ecosystem,
the region’s tactics must all contain efforts to include
and reinforce opportunities for minorities, women,
and veterans.
To continue the region’s successes in supporting
and fostering the growth of emerging enterprises,
Central New York will implement the following
tactics:
i.
Build a pipeline of new and emerging
ventures through aggressive business
attraction efforts, and facilitating the
transition of R&D to venture development.
ii.
Foster student entrepreneurship through
mentorship programs and resources such as
The Syracuse Student Sandbox, a 14-college
student venture development initiative.
iii.
Provide physical and virtual incubation
space that encourages the collision of ideas
and new partnerships, in a setting affordable
to those ventures just starting out.
iv.
Improve access to seed and risk capital —
Access to early stage and growth capital
through low-interest loan programs, loan
guarantee programs, non-dilutive grant
sources, angel investment funds, and
introductions to equity/debt providers.
v.
Provide commercialization assistance
resources — Access to specialized
technology commercialization funding,
including scaling up and replicating regional
programs such as:
o Grants for Growth (NYS-supported
fund administered through
CenterState CEO to support academicindustry collaboration to fast-track
commercialization of new technologies)
o CAP Grants (NYS-supported
fund jointly administered through
CenterState CEO and the Syracuse CoE
to advance research, development/
deployment of clean energy
technologies)
vi.
Build mentor networks by matching
entrepreneurs with mentors, coaches,
subject matter experts, and entrepreneursin-residence.
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vii.
viii.
ix.
Deliver robust entrepreneurial
programming and comprehensive
acceleration services through the
development of customized incubation/
acceleration assistance plans that
include venture formation, business plan
development, path to market, technology
roadmap, business model and funding
strategy, procurement, contracting, and
market access assistance. Also, deliver
entrepreneurial training to develop skill
sets and financial literacy to better manage
startup and growth, as well as export
development training to reach new markets.
Connect entrepreneurs with market leaders
to beta-test new products and technologies
— Utilize networking opportunities through
projects like Tech Meetup, special events,
workshops and conferences.
Establish a Bridge NY Program — Build
a pipeline of deal-ready companies by
industry and facilitate connections with
investors in New York City.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
•
Cortland Business Innovation Center (Cortland
County) — Partnering with SUNY Cortland,
the Cortland Downtown Partnership (CDP) will
establish entrepreneurial coursework, adapted
from Syracuse University, to work in concert with
incubation space in downtown Cortland for the
development of start up businesses.
Total Cost: $800,000
Jobs: 1 new / 66 potential
b.
Support Small and Medium Businesses
Over the past decade, the region has worked to develop
an ecosystem of support to meet the needs of the
region’s innovators and small businesses. As these
businesses are among our greatest job generators,
we must continue the prioritization of small business,
innovation, and entrepreneurship within the region.
In support of the small and medium sized businesses
that form the backbone of economic growth in the
region, Central New York will implement the following
tactics:
i.
Provide executive education opportunities
— Continue to host the SBA e200 program,
an executive education program to
accelerate the growth of small and medium
size businesses
c.
Provide technical assistance for scale-up,
including support identifying supply chains,
channels to market, export opportunities,
and initiate a regional “early adopters
program” to help speed products to market.
Build a regional resource website to allow
small and medium sized enterprises to
access assistance programs.
Provide mentoring services through a
regional network of peer-executives and
professional service providers (CenterState
CEO Ventures)
Strengthen the coordination of regional
support organizations — Coordinate
outreach and referrals through a tightly
organized network of regional support
organizations—CenterState CEO, MACNY,
CNYTDO, SBDC’s through “The Innovation
Roundtable.”
Help companies access funding through
SBA Certified Community Development
Corporations (CDCs) such as the New
York Business Development Corporation,
Greater Syracuse Business Development
Corporation, and Operation Oswego
County, Inc., and other sources of
alternative low-cost capital (e.g., funding
available through local revolving loan fund
programs administered by local economic
development corporations and local IDAs).
Encourage Continuous Process Improvement
The development of new products and services is
critical to the success of businesses in a rapidly evolving
global economy and the region will encourage private
investment in research and development; improve
technology commercialization among its educational
and research institutions; and create a complete
ecosystem of mentors, business services, and risk
capital to enable innovation. Moreover, continuous
improvement is necessary for both manufacturing and
service industries to remain cost-competitive and skillscompetitive.
To encourage continued modernization and process
improvement of the region’s manufacturing enterprises,
Central New York will implement the following tactics:
i.
Development of Six Sigma and ISO
certification and training programs
ii.
Encourage our regions manufacturing
enterprises to adopt process improvement
strategies
iii.
Establish a continuous process
improvement recognition program
iv.
Development of regional continuous
process improvement metrics
Strategy: Prioritize Investments in Research, Innovation,
and Commercialization
In 2011, Central New York has more than $144 million
invested in R&D at the region’s academic institutions,
with an increasing number of new ventures being created
as spin-offs through the downsizing of large regional
businesses in core sectors. However as referenced in
Section 3, we are working to strengthen connections
between R&D and commercialization. The result
is a developing pipeline of new ventures that offer
high growth-return potential, but lack the necessary
infrastructure, risk capital and support services to enable
them to remain and grow in upstate New York.
To significantly impact the region’s commitment and
investment in research and development activities, Central
New York will implement the following tactics:
i.
Grow the region’s research capacity —
Align existing and future research with the
region’s industry priorities
ii.
Create a stable technology
commercialization environment —
Capitalize on the region’s assets to
create unique pathways of technology
commercialization from product conception,
through testing, to production.
iii.
Support and bolster entrepreneurial
programs to engage and promote
participation by both the university and
industry population.
iv.
Leverage university incubators such as
the SyracuseCoE and CNY Biotechnology
Research Center to further apply research
and engagement with industry.
v.
Support interdisciplinary consortiums that
create partnerships between academia and
industry, such as the Syracuse Biomaterials
Institute, that increases the probability
of enhanced research, development, and
commercialization.
vi.
Develop and embrace new models, such as
Blue Highway, that “speed-up” and facilitate
technology transfer between academia and
industry.
Capture a Greater Share of the Global Market
As discussed in previous sections, the United States
primarily relies on domestic spending to fuel its economic
growth. In the past century, as domestic markets have
been the leaders of global growth, this was a sound and
successful strategy. However, as markets have become
increasingly global, the fastest growing areas of demand
are no longer centered in the United States but span
emerging markets in South America, the Middle East, and
Asia. At the federal level, the National Export Initiative
was recently established to double the country’s export
activity in five years. Further, the Brookings Institution has
established the Metropolitan Export Initiative, described in
Section 3, in which the Central New York Region has been
selected to participate.
With the nation getting more serious about the
opportunities present by connecting to the global
marketplace, Central New York is in a unique position
to capitalize on its existing assets and leverage unique
partnerships. To do this, the region must prioritize
the value of exporting and foreign investment in local
companies.
a. Improve the Region’s Export Performance to Generate
New Net Wealth
Sections 2 and 3 of this strategic plan clearly identify
the region’s current performance in exporting. Exports
represent roughly 10 percent of the region’s total gross
metro product and research has shown that though
Central New York has many assets on which to build,
it is relatively unsophisticated in its overall exporting
experience.
To have significant impact on this critical component
of the region’s future growth strategy, Central New York
will implement the following tactics:
i.
Develop detailed market information —
The production of country specific reports
to assist in easing entry to market for target,
high growth industry clusters
ii.
Create export mentoring network — Using
existing high export companies to support
the export growth of small and medium
sized enterprises
iii.
Promote the prioritization of export growth
among C-level executives — Institute high
altitude B2B leadership talks with nationally
recognized export leaders. Establish a
global business leadership development
program to support the salary and training
of a designated export expert in companies
targeted for export growth. Produce a
monthly/quarterly executive level monthly
research and market report.
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Streamline target country entry for
region’s top exports — Facilitate industry
collaborations, partnerships, and new
enterprises to assist the region’s top
exporters in entering new growth markets.
v.
Develop resources to fund export-related
initiatives — Support the soft costs
associated with new market entry (legal,
licensing, and regulatory).
vi.
Streamline existing export assistance
programs — Create a one stop shop for
regional export assistance
vii.
Create new export awareness programs
— Develop a public relations efforts to
communicate export opportunities and
available services.
viii.
Deliver export related programming —
Utilize partner networks and events to build
export-centric programming in to business/
economic development messaging.
b. Secure Foreign Direct Investment in Central New York
Though increasing exporting activity is commonly seen
as the most productive way to capture a greater share
of the global market, attracting and securing foreign
direct investment should not be overlooked as a critical
component of achieving success in this strategy.
To capitalize on recent successes (like Saab Sensis,
Bitzer Scroll, and Marquardt Switches) to attract foreign
direct investment and continue its steady growth in the
region, Central New York will implement the following
tactics:
i.
Build a pipeline of target business sectors
— Identify the target business sectors that
could benefit from and align with CNY’s
unique assets.
ii.
Use existing foreign owned companies to
foster new connections — Utilize successful
foreign owned-companies to provide
introductions to peer businesses in their
home country. Also, partner with NYS on
their State Trade and Export Promotion
(STEP) Grant.
iii.
Strengthen the region’s business attraction
programs
iv.
Strategy: Build a 21st Century Infrastructure
Roads, bridges, airports, rail lines, and ports provide the
connective physical infrastructure that drives commerce
and the movement of people. Virtual infrastructure,
like broadband, provides the connectivity necessary to
facilitate the quick movement of ideas and information.
Construction must focus on the virtual and physical
infrastructure assets that make jobs more accessibly,
make the flow of information and ideas more efficient,
and make the movement of goods more sustainable, lowcost, and effective.
To truly modernize and lay the foundation for
an infrastructure meeting the needs of people and
businesses in the 21st century, Central New York will
i.
Invest strategically in roads, ports, air
and rail — The region must maintain
and sustainably develop the region’s
transportation infrastructure, especially
in alignment with the state’s Public
Infrastructure Priority Act. In the future,
consideration must be given to unique
opportunities, such as an inland rail port
in Syracuse, should the projects move
closer to shovel readiness. Further, regional
economic development efforts must focus
on transformational regional infrastructure
projects like region wide waterfront
revitalization and the I-81 Viaduct project in
downtown Syracuse.
ii.
Expand broadband connectivity to
underserved areas
iii.
Mitigate impact of correctional facility
closing— Invest in redevelopment
opportunities of closed correctional
facilities, like Camp Georgetown, that
will create new jobs and new uses for
abandoned spaces. Also, prioritize projects
that offset the impact that correctional
facility closings have had on communities,
such as the renovation of the Technology
Park and other adaptive reuse projects
that have been developed to reduce the
impact of the closure of the Harriet Tubman
Residential Facility.
To initially address these tactics, Central New York
strongly recommends the support of the following
projects in this current funding cycle:
•
Port of Oswego East Side Connector (Oswego
County) — The project would upgrade the current
rail line to heavy standards (current rail is stamped
1892, and is only 80 lb. rail), and also embed the line
in a roadway section, thus allowing the movement
of product between the Port’s East terminal and a
remote 15-acre site owned by the Port Authority.
The project would also provide site work and
installation of security measures as mandated by
the Department of Homeland Security for the 15
acres.
Costs: $5 million
•
Bestdeck Rail Siding Project (Cortland County)
— The Cortland County Industrial Development
Agency, Bestdeck, and the NY Susquehanna and
Western Railway Corporation propose constructing
a new rail siding to accommodate a manufacturing
investment by Bestdeck in its Preble facilities
to complement efforts to sell or lease a vacant
but modern 60,000-square-foot manufacturing
facility nearby and to enhance effort to develop
other nearby industrial parcels at the north end
of Cortland County. The funds would offset rail
construction costs, engineering, and design.
Costs: $850,000
Strategy: Maximize Human Capital
Central New York’s highly educated workforce and
unique concentration of high-quality higher-education,
research and development expertise forms a foundation
for investments in today’s innovative, knowledge-based,
and global economy. In order to improve our global
competitiveness, the region must continue to maximize
human capital, improve alignment between workforce
supply and employer demand, create and support
apprenticeship programs, and attract and retain students
and young professionals.
a. Improve Alignment of Workforce Supply and Employer
Demand
Pools of workers and jobs/firms mutually attract each
other. Workforce alignment efforts must train, develop,
and educate workers based on the demand of firms in
the region while also attracting and growing firms that
match the region’s strong occupational clusters.
To strengthen the linkages and alignment between
the region’s workforce and available jobs, Central New
York will implement the following tactics:
i.
Scale and replicate the “Green Train” model
to provide skilled training and job readiness
skills to workers in high demand and
growing industry sectors.
ii.
Fund talent alignment programs — Use the
business and industry council, discussed
earlier in this section, to investigate talent
alignment programming with the possible
creation of a Talent Investment Fund to
focus on developing talent and jobs.
iii.
Increase utilization of stackable industry
recognized credentials
iv.
Expand the use of “credit for experience”
programming — Support programming that
translates veterans’ military training and
experience into credit toward achieving in
demand certifications, thus “fast-tracking”
returning veterans into new careers.
b. Create and Support Apprenticeship Programs
Our local unions’ apprenticeship training programs are
one significant method of developing a skilled, diverse
workforce for regional construction projects.
To continue the legacy of the region’s skilled labor
force through the passing of knowledge and experience
in apprenticeship programs, Central New York will
i.
Ensure critical nexus between labor
and Pre-K-12 — Facilitate and support
relationships between regional labor and
high schools, specifically with guidance
counselors and career counselors to
promote apprenticeship programs.
c. Attract and Retain Students and Young Professionals
Since the development of previous regional economic
development strategies, the region has recognized the
critical importance of attracting and retaining young
talent in the region. Robust young talent in a region
increases innovation and leads ultimately towards
stronger regional competitiveness in the global market.
To significantly increase the retention of students
and young professionals in the region, Central New York
will implement the following tactics:
i.
Link young talent retention with
entrepreneurial support programs — Build
upon the successes and scale up student
entrepreneurial support programs like the
Student Sandbox at the Tech Garden.
ii.
Provide college graduate retention
programming — Regional universities have
already embraced the vision of ‘scholarship
in action’ pursued by Syracuse University. To
capitalize on the excellent programming that
is already underway to provide internship
opportunities to students (Project Ion),
professional fellowships for new graduates
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Expansion of
the OnPoint
for College
program
would increase
opportunites
for at-risk
young adults.
(Syracuse University’s Engagement
Fellows) and to promote volunteerism
(COVE program at Colgate University), new
programming is needed to assist students
that want to continue their community
involvement to stay in the region.
iii.
Support region’s young professional groups
— Groups like 40 Below, 40 Below Cortland,
Ignite CNY, and Oswego County Young
Professionals provide the most direct link
for young individuals in the region to get
involved in community development and
civic engagement activities. These groups
are consistently developing new projects
and programming that can be further
strengthened by funding and support from
dedicated state resources.
iv.
Attract firms that want our talent — Identify
top firms that are targeting and recruiting
the region’s young talent and implement an
attraction strategy on them.
d. Prioritize Pre-K-20 Education — Accessibility, Quality,
and Attainment
Development of our human capital is perhaps the
most crucial component of our regional economic
development strategy. It is inexplicably tied to the
health of our urban cores and our prosperity, as well
as our success in any of our other strategies and goals.
Closing the education and economic opportunity
gap impacting a growing percentage of our region’s
population is essential to our long-term economic
stability and growth. The Say Yes to Education
partnership with the Syracuse City School District
is working to coalesce the region’s social resources
to narrow that gap and we must continue to drive
progress by developing proactive, multi-tiered initiatives
increasing work readiness amongst our unemployed
and underemployed.
To continue and scale up the innovative activities
already underway in the Pre-K-20 education system in
the region, Central New York proposes the following
tactics:
i.
Further Expand “work ready” credentials
— Increase the utilization of certificate
and credential programs as an additional
graduation outcome and develop a process
to identify the region as “work ready” using
the certificate. Build on existing efforts
to use the National Career Readiness
Certificate and the National Work Readiness
Credential in secondary and post-secondary
education/training, upon which career
specific technical certifications such as the
Manufacturing Skills Certification System
are “stacked.”
ii.
Provide multidimensional career and
academic support to middle, high school,
and first-time college students to focus
career interests and increase completion
rates
iii.
Support and scale programs for at risk
young adults — Expand the On Point
for Jobs program as part of the OnPoint
for College program to leverage existing
internship programs and opportunities for
at risk young adults. Bring in additional
partners to the “BNY Mellon” partnership
with Le Moyne College.
iv.
Establish a Regional Institute for Business
and Education Integration to assess
regional workforce gaps and business
needs, particularly of small business, and
coordinate regional workforce programming
to address those needs. The Institute will
work with primary and secondary education
institutions to align programming, training
programs, and curriculum with regional
workforce shortages and skills gaps in our
strategic industry clusters.
The strategies outlined above will begin to address issues
associated with our goal of improving competitiveness in, and
connections to, the regional, national, and global economies,
including:
• Slow regional growth in exports as compared to other
G8 countries
• Gaps in venture/seed capital, commercialization
assistance and tech transfer
• Misalignment of workforce supply and demand
The strategies identified aim to open up more exporting
opportunities to businesses within the region, providing
them with resources to broaden their exporting potential.
The development of the Metropolitan Export Initiative for
the region, in partnership with the Brookings Institution, will
provide a specific and detailed export growth strategy for the
region moving forward.
Additionally, these strategies set the groundwork for
new ways to provide seed capital to our region’s startups
to demonstrate to entrepreneurs outside the region our
commitment to this segment, and to attract co-investors from
outside region. They also lead to strengthened collaborations
between industry and academia/research institutions to
accelerate tech transfer and commercialization.
With its existing partnerships and vast resources available
to small business and entrepreneurs, its strong workforce,
efforts underway to expand the export potential of the region’s
businesses, and effective strategies for the future, the region is
on solid footing to tackle these issues.
Revitalize Our Region’s Urban Cores, Main
Investing in our targeted industry clusters to make ourselves
more innovative, competitive, and connected to the global
marketplace are critical priorities for Central New York in
building a strategic plan. Yet at its core, the ultimate goal
for regional economic development is to provide greater
opportunity for individuals, families, and communities to
prosper. Furthermore, the human and social capital found in
our found in our municipal centers is the most important asset
for being globally competitive. To truly be a comprehensive
strategic plan that lays of foundation for a sustainable and
prosperous future, CNY REDC recognizes that strong regional
economies are built around strong communities.
Central New York’s cities have always been the historic
hubs where people and ideas converge to create commerce.
But given high concentrations of poverty, crumbling
infrastructure, old industrial brownfields, and untapped
waterfront potential, our third priority strategic goal is
revitalizing our region’s urban cores, main streets, and
neighborhoods. Through mutually beneficial partnerships
between business, government, and nonprofit institutions, our
region will reinvigorate the region’s municipal centers, expand
access to education and employment, and create business
enterprises that reinvest into our communities.
CNY’s anchor institutions—the universities, colleges,
community foundations and major employers whose
functions and facilities are firmly planted and interconnected
within our municipalities—serve as the backbone to those
partnerships. Their efforts are repurposing existing physical
assets, rethinking approaches to neighborhood planning,
and preparing citizens for quality education and employment
opportunities. They also attract private investment to
the region’s urban centers as companies seek to feed off
the human and social capital they generate. In Syracuse,
companies like King+King Architects and O’Brien & Gere
Engineers have moved into Syracuse’s downtown, fueled by
investments made by our anchor institutions and attracting
other businesses, residents, and new homeowners.
All these opportunities have been at the forefront of
creating a strategic plan that promotes greater density in
development so that our residents have vibrant neighborhoods
to live, work, play—and ultimately stay. Rather than destroy
our older buildings, our strategy demands to repurpose them
with mixed-use investments that preserve our heritage and
unique architectural character. It challenges conventional
barriers to education and professional attainment by reaching
disadvantaged communities to teach them the skills to
succeed. Similarly, it embraces diversity as a cornerstone to
our culture, and we will level the playing field for minority and
women-owned enterprises in making our investments. Lastly,
our strategy turns away years of industrial decay to restore
brownfields, clean our parks and public spaces, and harness
the recreational and economic opportunities that waterfronts
have to communities.
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As such, to truly achieve revitalization in our urban and
municipal cores the region will pursue the following actions:
Strategy: Rethink—Leverage the Region’s Exemplary
Anchor Institutions in Education, Health and Medicine,
and Arts and Culture
Increasingly Central New York’s education, health and
medicine, and arts and culture institutions have become
pillars of economic growth, community revitalization,
neighborhood reinvestment, and the innovative showcase
of new and sustainable products. These institutions,
many of which are the region’s largest employers, have
recognized and capitalized on the unique opportunity to
connect their knowledge, resources, and mission directly
with the community and neighborhoods in which they
are located. As discussed in Sections 2 and 3, institutions
like Syracuse University, St. Joseph’s Hospital Health
Center, and SUNY Upstate, among others, have made
the revitalization of and involvement in community
reinvestment an institution-wide priority. The region
must continue to support and encourage the extension of
the critical role that these institutions have in our overall
regional prosperity. Not only do their efforts results an
tangible physical improvement to our neighborhoods, but
these institutions play a critical role in promoting Central
New York to national and international markets through
the intellectual and cultural activities they generate and
the benchmark services they offer.
Capitalizing on the immense impact that anchor
institution investment has made in the region’s urban
cores, the Central New York region will implement the
following tactics:
i.
Support anchor institution investment —
Scale and replicate anchor institution efforts
to revitalize neighborhoods through mixeduse investment as demonstrated by the Near
West Side Initiative, the South Side Community
Coalition, and North Side Urban Partnership of
Syracuse.
ii.
Promote homeownership in urban
neighborhoods — Employ a multi-faceted
housing strategy that adds home ownership and
green homes in our urban neighborhoods.
iii.
Grow and support regional arts and cultural
initiatives — Create, invest, and market
cultural programs to increase tourism, enhance
education, and access national audiences.
•
Prospect Place Project (Onondaga County) — This
project is significant for the revitalization of the
City of Syracuse’s North Side. This project involves
the development of a mixed-use retail center,
apartments, and a park adjacent to St. Joseph’s
Hospital Health Center. The development on the
three-parcel site will include a fresh (largely local)
food market and retail center and apartment
housing intended for hospital employees.
Jobs: 13 new / 30 construction
•
The Neighborhood Food and Health Center/
NoJaim’s Supermarket (Onondaga County) —
This project is designed to be a model for urban
agriculture —using a collaboration of private
business, a regional health institution, and a major
university to address food deserts in an urban center
and induce health and wellness education and best
practices within one of the nation’s poorest census
tracts.
•
South Side Food Cooperative (Onondaga County)
— The South Side Food Cooperative was established
by the South Side Community Coalition, and plans
to build a new facility in the South Salina Trade
Area to bring fresh, healthy, fairly-priced foods and
household products to residents of the Southside
neighborhood, while also promoting better health,
community nutrition, cooperative ownership and
sustainable economic growth on the South Side.
Total Project Costs: $804,000
Jobs: 4 new / 2 seasonal / 50 construction
Strategy: Repurpose Existing Infrastructure to Recreate
Density in Development and Capitalize on Regional
Assets
Sustaining our economic future also requires a
sustainability action plan toward our physical assets
and spaces. Our vacant historical structures offer ample
opportunities to live and work in environments of unique
cultural character, as have been demonstrated by the
benchmark transformations in cities nationally, and more
locally in Syracuse’s Armory Square. Similarly, our old
industrial sites must be transferred from abandoned,
contaminated eyesores into shovel-ready work sites and
green public spaces for mixed-use development. Our
urban centers must function efficiently and effectively in
managing the flow of human and social capital, to not only
provide the convenience of living, working and recreation
we all demand, but to also attract business, alleviate
the high costs of public infrastructure, and reduce daily
commute times. Where people live, work, travel, and shop
are all critical factors in making residential and commercial
investments, and planned development promoting density
resolves numerous challenges faced by both the private
and public sectors.
To prioritize the investment in projects that encourage
density, the Central New York region will implement the
following tactics:
i.
Prioritize adaptive re-use and historic
rehabilitation — Support the successful
continuation of the historic rehabilitation tax
credit.
ii.
Specifically target brownfield revitalization
and cleanup efforts on areas with high potential
for redevelopment, such as the Syracuse Inner
Harbor and Kennedy Square.
iii.
Support industrial re-use planning and
development
iv.
Maintain residential redevelopment growth in
Central Business Districts
v.
Employ Transit Oriented Development
Strategies — Link planned transportation
investment with surrounding private
development through transit-oriented strategies.
vi.
Encourage mixed-use development in
revitalization projects — Support development
of parking infrastructure that includes first floor
commercial uses in central business districts.
Also support mixed-use and mixed-income
projects such as the Orchard Street renewal
project in Auburn and the Seaway lofts in
Oswego.
vii.
Collectively address anchor institution
transportation needs — Establish a
transportation system for the city’s anchor
viii.
ix.
institutions to minimize the need for employee
parking structures. Redevelop parking assets in
the urban core like the Sibley’s garage.
Promote regional waterfront revitalization — Be
they along lakes or rivers, the region contains
many underutilized waterfront spaces that, when
coupled with neighborhood, brownfield, or urban
revitalization strategies can create appealing
and valuable projects. Existing assets include
the Syracuse Inner Harbor and the Oswego
Riverfront.
Attract target industries to newly revitalized
spaces — Encourage businesses, particularly
professional, technical, and creative firms to
locate in the city centers throughout the region.
•
Syracuse Inner Harbor Redevelopment (Onondaga
County) — The City of Syracuse is seeking to
redevelop 32 acres of waterfront property for
housing, recreational, and commercial opportunities,
and visitor attractions for local residents and the
surrounding region. The Inner Harbor connects the
City of Syracuse, through the New York State Canal
System, to communities across New York State
and throughout the eastern seaboard. Funds will be
used to support the remediation of environmentally
contaminated land, as well as infrastructure
improvements to support residential, commercial,
and recreational development.
Total project cost: $200 million
Jobs: 500 potential
•
Merchants Commons (Onondaga County) — This
project involves the adaptive reuse and reclamation
of 152,000 square feet of vacant space in the heart
of Syracuse’s downtown urban core for a mixeduse facility that will include 25,450 square feet of
commercial space, 66 residential apartments, and a
65-car parking garage.
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Refugee training
Strategy: Retrain to Develop the Workforce of Tomorrow
The ultimate measure of economic development is how
much we grow our businesses, personal incomes, number
of residencies, and the opportunities to live fulfilling
lives at home and at work. Education attainment, having
the skill set to pursue employment opportunities, and
access to resources needed to succeed are critical factors
and are equally crucial in keeping families in our urban
centers. We have an enormous opportunity to pursue the
talent dividend by empowering individuals in our urban
neighborhoods with the tools necessary to succeed in
a profession. Additionally, our region will continue to
welcome refugees and immigrants into our community,
and provide them with the educational resources to
become productive members of our community. As
we invest in our target industry clusters, and demand
a greater level of innovation and entrepreneurship, it is
within our interests to provide home-grow talent to fuel
our economy and build healthy, sustainable communities.
To prioritize develop the workforce of tomorrow, the
Central New York region will implement the following
tactics:
i.
Embrace and support refugee settlement and
immigrant population retraining — Create
programs that provide the direct pipeline for
employment and training needed for our newest
citizens and neighbors.
ii.
Improve Pre-K-20 educational attainment in
urban neighborhoods — Scale the Say Yes to
Education collaborations across the region, and
leverage additional partnerships among nonprofits, public schools, local governments, and
higher educational institutions to provide critical
support to increase graduation rates and college
admittance, and transform urban education into
a desirable resource for families living in our core
cities.
iii.
Align urban workforce training programs with
needs of growing industry sectors
iv.
Facilitate small business and diversity supplier
utilization — Create a CNY Supplier Diversity
Program with a coordinated strategy, shared
resources and emphasis on capacity building to
support the efforts of anchor institutions, large
businesses and industry clusters to use the
regional workforce and integrate our region’s
small businesses and small, diverse (veteran,
service disabled veteran, women and minority
owned) businesses.
The strategies outlined above will play a key role in addressing
issues associated with our goal of revitalizing our region’s
urban cores, main streets, and neighborhoods.
Investments by anchor institutions will be leveraged, scaled,
and replicated where possible in order to revitalize urban cores,
support neighborhoods, and meet workforce needs.
And while the cost to update and replace decaying
infrastructure can, in many cases, be prohibitive, repurposing
of existing infrastructure through adaptive reuse, historic
rehabilitation and planning will be employed to recreate
density and best utilize existing infrastructure assets.
Specific Pre-K-12 attainment and workforce alignment
tactics and programs will help address issues related to
high concentrations of poverty that increase costs on local
government, reduce educational attainment, and impede
development of a sustained an talented workforce.
Projects to Strengthen
4.4Aligning
Targeted Industries, improve Global
Connections and Competitiveness, and Revitalize Our Region’s Municipal
and Urban Cores
The projects listed in this section are priorities for our region
based on their individual merits. However, central to our
strategic planning and implementation of our initiatives is
the ability to align investments in ways that generate greater
outcomes for the public good. We are not simply investing in
clusters, or creating opportunities to access global markets,
or rethinking our neighborhood planning tactics. It is vital
for the stability of our region and the sustainability of our
future, to ensure that our public-private partnerships leverage
each other. One such example can be seen in the City of
Syracuse, where a number of investments are transforming
a neighborhood at the base of University Hill, and creating
opportunities across the region.
CNY Ennovation Gateway: Entrepreneurship & Innovations Transforming the Central
New York Regional Economy
Central New York has earned international recognition
in recent years for developing extensive collaborations in
entrepreneurship and innovations that engage hundreds
of firms and institutions across multiple business sectors,
including clean energy and environmental systems, health
and biomedical sciences, communications and information
technologies, and advanced manufacturing. These
collaborations are all converging on an urban scale that is
transforming both industry and the community: the CNY
Ennovation Gateway.
The CNY Ennovation Gateway is strategically located in
an urban neighborhood at the intersection of Interstates 81
and 690 that is beginning to experience rebirth with nearly
$120 million in catalytic public-private projects, including the
Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy
Systems (SyracuseCoE), the Central New York Biotechnology
Research Center (CNY BRC), and the Connective Corridor.
Developments include:
• The iconic $41-million headquarters of SyracuseCoE,
which has earned international recognition and
revitalized a historic brownfield site along the
original Erie Canal. SyracuseCoE is a site for
collaborations in clean energy and environmental
systems that engage more than 200 companies and
institutions from across CNY and around the world.
• The first phase of the CNY BRC is a $21-million
facility that is currently under construction,
including exterior shell, core interiors, and partial
lab fit-out. CNY BRC will house university-industry
partnerships working to discover, develop and
deploy innovative products for the biological and
medical marketplaces.
• The Connective Corridor, the $34-million first phase
of which is nearing completion and will connect
multiple institutions on University Hill with the
business district along East Genesee Street and in
downtown Syracuse.
• The $18 million redevelopment of a vacant armory
on East Genesee Street into more than 130
apartments for a growing population of professionals
and students.
• The $5 million renovation of the Crowne Plaza hotel
and convention center.
The area that encompasses the CNY Ennovation Gateway
is an urban neighborhood at the pivot point of the Connective
Corridor. Physically, it is at the juncture of University Hill and
Downtown Syracuse, highly visible and easily accessible from
Interstates 81 and 690. Its redevelopment is bringing much
needed activity to an area that just a few years ago was largely
abandoned and avoided. More substantively, it is building new
research and development facilities and creating connections
to industry to empower innovation and entrepreneurship in
an emerging marketplace for bioscience and clean energy and
environmental systems from throughout upstate New York.
Bringing these assets more closely together to create
a more cohesive space for the further integration of the
neighborhood’s R&D operations and mixed-use investment is a
priority for Central New York. Through a series of projects and
initiatives outlined in this strategic plan, the region is taking
steps toward designing and building a regional campus for
innovation and entrepreneurship. And it’s doing it in a way that
hits on three overarching economic goals for the community,
and thereby stands to make a transformational impact not just
in Central New York, but across New York State and nationally.
These projects and initiatives include:
• NYE-RIC Advanced Building Consortium Research
and Development Labs: An essential step in the
development of the New York Energy Regional
Innovation Cluster (NYE-RIC), a pioneering
consortium that will create tens of thousands of
good, clean technology jobs across New York State.
• Completion of CNY Biotechnology Research Center:
Expected to open in spring 2012, the build-out will
house new lab facilities and biotech companies.
• Demolition and abatement project in Kennedy
Square: This vacant, blighted public housing project
encompassing 14 prominent acres will be completely
demolished and redeveloped to transform nine acres
into “shovel-ready” private-sector investment.
• Biomass Pilot-scale Demonstration Lab: A “pilotscale” facility that will develop innovative, costeffective fuels and sustainable bi-products from
wood and other natural materials.
• Built Health Care Environments Ennovation Center:
A new facility at the SyracuseCoE will coordinate
improvements to built health care environments in
the region via connections to targeted research and
assist with the implementation of green and clean
technology within health care settings.
To coalesce these initiatives, the CNY REDC calls upon
the institutional partners to develop the CNY Ennovation
Gateway Campus Development Plan: A comprehensive urban
neighborhood plan to guide the development, remediation,
and/or preservation of the neighborhood’s streets, multimodal
transportation facilities, green spaces, and other public areas
in relationship to the institutional investment and housing
initiatives in the area.
Collectively, these projects and the creation of the CNY
Ennovation Gateway truly represent a transformational
opportunity for the economy of Central New York. It
integrates CNY’s core industry clusters in clean technology,
the biosciences, advanced manufacturing sector to leverage
greater outcomes in economic production. It harnesses
the creative energy and internationally renowned research
from the region’s top universities to drive innovation and
entrepreneurship, further enhancing the region’s economic
diversity and laying a path for sustainable economic growth
into the future. And through its private-public partnerships and
collaborative efforts, it is revitalizing a blighted neighborhood
in our center city to create a vibrant gateway into Syracuse and
Central New York for those traveling on Interstates 81 and 690.
77
78
The following is a list of the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council’s
priority projects, which represent part of our immediate and long-term transformational regional initiatives.
Project Name
Cayuga County
Cayuga Ingredients, LLC - Milk Processing Plant
Currier Plastics - Plant expansion
Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival
The Abbot House
Cortland County
BestDeck
Cortland Business Innovation Center
Cortland Plastics
Madison County
Aquaculture Expansion at Morrisville State College
NY Beef Farmers' Cooperative, Inc.
Owera Vineyards
Onondaga County
NYE-RIC advanced building Consortium New R&D
labs COE
Clay Business Park
Completion of the CNY Biotechnology Research
Center
Cooper Crouse
C-Speed Demo of Air Survelliance Radar System;
Expansion/Relocation Liverpool Manufacturing
Facility
Dupli Envelopes & Graphic Corporation
Ephesus
Kennedy Square Demo/abate bioscience park
Kennedy Sq.
Merchants Commons
Prospect Place
South Side COOP
St Josephs Hospital Health Center
Syracuse Inner Harbor Redevelopment
Total Capital
Investment
Total Payroll (5
years)
Total Project Expenses
Capital Grant
Recommended
$88,000,000
$7,000,000
$12,600,000
$9,598,930
$16,456,667.00
$13,996,000.00
$10,110,154.00
$18,408,936.00
$104,456,667
$20,996,000
$22,710,154
$28,007,866
$1,500,000
$750,000
$751,450
$250,000
$850,000
$800,000
$680,000
$562,500.00
$100,000.00
$1,164,800.00
$1,412,500
$900,000
$1,844,800
$800,000
$1,400,000.00
$2,725,000
$3,500,000
$8,700,000
$350,000
$500,000
$125,000
4.04
1.80
14.76
5
1
10
$2,200,000
$150,000
14.67
$3,187,500.00
$1,750,000.00
$5,912,500
$5,250,000
$200,000
$994,000
29.56
5.28
$14,550,000
$23,250,000
$3,000,000
7.75
$6,200,000
$2,000,000
3.10
$1,950,000
23.64
$24,700,000
$21,400,000.00
$46,100,000
$2,000,000
$19,430,000.00
$21,430,000
$3,450,000
$25,300,000.00
$28,750,000
$700,000
$8,990,000
$2,025,000.00
$7,795,000.00
$229,000,000
$12,500,000
$1,120,000
$804,000
$138,650,000
$200,000,000
$500,000.00
42.86
$250,000
$6,000,000.00
4.60
$2,725,000
$16,785,000
$245,000
$500,000
$250,000.00
5.51
33.57
$79,250,000.00
$308,250,000
$3,600,000
85.63
$16,250,000.00
$1,590,000.00
$755,550.00
$24,754,000.00
$28,750,000
$2,710,000
$1,559,550
$163,404,000
$200,000,000
$837,500
$320,000
$394,000
$2,500,000
$3,000,000
34.33
8.47
3.96
65.36
66.67
$2,500,000
$3,280,000.00
$5,780,000
$1,000,000
United Health
Oswego County
$1,950,000
$50,459,530.00
$52,409,530
$250,000
Champlain Valley Specialty -- Food Manufacturing
$4,500,000
$6,110,200.00
Fulton Companies: Growing Manufacturing Employment
through Commercializing Low Emissions R&D Projects
$2,700,000
$6,922,092.00
Total
New FT
Jobs
52
40
19
35
$6,200,000
$2,500,000.00
$1,000,000.00
ROI
26.11
12.00
30.22
112.03
The Neighborhood Food and Health Center NoJaim
Healthway Home Products Air Purification
Equipment Manufacturing
Huhtamaki
Port of Oswego East Side Connector
Excelsior Credits
Recommended
5.78
$3,000,000.00
16.13
$10,610,200
$800,000.00
13.26
$9,622,092
$900,000.00
10.69
63
10
10
6
40
200
9
225
10
24
700
65
13
4
147
2
40
150
60
25
$1,400,000
$4,696,000.00
$6,096,000
$4,000,000
$5,000,000
$38,852,000.00
$2,766,400.00
$42,852,000
$7,766,400
$100,000
$1,250,000
$785,417,930
$393,322,329
$1,178,740,259
$26,766,950
60.96
$1,000,000.00
42.85
6.21
27
25
6
$15,950,000
27.85
1958
*1= Strengthen Targeted Industry Concentrations that Leverage Unique Economic Assets
2= Improve Competitiveness in, and Connections to,the Regional, National, and Global Economies
3= Revitalize our Region’s Urban Cores, Main Streets, and Neighborhoods
4.5
New Seasonal
Jobs
Central New York Regional Policy Portfolio
As discussed previously, as part of a serious and deliberate
attempt to support regions in stimulating and fostering
prosperity in their local economies, New York must institute
a robust series of policy improvements. First and foremost,
the state has a unique opportunity to make immediate policy
improvements by facilitating quick implementation of the first
round of funded projects. To improve the speed of priority
project implementation and realize job creation benefits as
soon as possible, the council recommends the following:
• Construction Procurement Process — Suspend laws
and regulations, as was done in several areas of the
state during the floods in September, so that projects
can have more condensed timelines. Further, the
use of alternative delivery methods, such as Design
Build, should be encouraged.
• SEQRA Improvements — Significantly improve the
review process and allow projects from the Regional
Councils to be streamlined through the process.
While these minor policy changes would directly assist
the council in meeting the benchmarks of this plan of job
65
OI
New FT
Jobs
26.11
12.00
30.22
12.03
52
40
19
35
4.04
1.80
14.76
5
1
10
14.67
29.56
5.28
7.75
New Seasonal New Construction
Jobs
Jobs
42.86
Potential
Jobs
Goals*
285
1, 2
1, 2
1, 2, 3
1, 3
100
63
59
100
100
60
66
50
4
40
200
9
85.63
34.33
8.47
3.96
65.36
66.67
5.78
16.13
13.26
1000
1, 2
1, 2, 3
80
29
1, 2
1, 2
225
10
24
700
65
13
4
147
1, 2
1, 2
2
1, 2, 3
650
130
30
50
400
500
40
150
1, 2, 3
2, 3
1, 3
1, 2, 3
2, 3
1, 3
20
30
1, 2, 3
1, 2, 3
60
10.69
1, 2
25
15
42.85
6.21
27
25
6
80
8
27.85
1958
60.96
1, 2
1, 2
1, 2, 3
20
104
4.60
5.51
33.57
1, 2
1, 2, 3
1, 2
1, 2
10
10
6
3.10
23.64
Retained
Jobs
1, 2
65
1928
358
1, 2
1, 2
1676
creation and the growth of wealth in the region, the council
recommends a number of longer term policy changes that
will facilitate future growth, reduce burdens on emerging and
existing businesses and encourage innovative partnerships and
collaborations to deal with community and statewide issues.
Explore Creative New Incentives and Solutions
for Today’s Economy
New York has long been the figurative giant of the world—a
global brand. Creative and dynamic new economic policies
should match our bold reputation. New tools for an everchanging business universe that is technologically advanced,
ever-wired, nimble and ever changing are needed to allow our
businesses to navigate today’s economic landscape.
While the CNY region continues to make great strides
in strengthening the business and socio-economic supports
for our various industry clusters, several roadblocks are
more substantive than others in preventing the new growth
our assets provide the basis for. More work and additional
resources are necessary to provide industry-specific resources
for start-ups and small bio businesses. Additionally, the region
must determine or provide better access to funds to address
lack of adequate R&D support for manufacturers.
New York State could encourage strategic “riskpromotion”—fostering or facilitating strategic risk taking for
entrepreneurs and small businesses. For example, a statewide
entrepreneur’s health insurance program could offset some of
the cost of carrying individual and/or family health insurance.
The financial costs associated with leaving an existing job to
start businesses can be major obstacles. Programs like these
can make it easier for a prospective entrepreneur to move
forward with such challenges and opportunities. Central New
York and New York State are teeming with micro business
enterprises and project potential. Economic incentives
reshaped to embrace the operational, intellectual capital and
marketing needs of high technology companies could bring
significant economic activity.
A list of new approaches or programming changes that
could serve our state well would include:
• Creation of a tax credit for venture capital
investment in NYS based startups
• Allow for bonded public venture funding
• Creation of “first priority” purchasing status for
Pride of NY labeled products for state purchasing
contracts
• Creation of incentives to foster tech transfer,
intellectual property, and licensing policies at all
major educational institutions
• Permit the use of NYS bonding authority for
improving and creating parking in city centers
• Examine feasibility of a NY Health exchange
• Provide incentives for small-scale technology
companies to stay in city centers as they grow
• Provide housing incentives for core support positions
(teachers, firefighters and police officers) who are
relocating into targeted neighborhoods
• Encourage an investment offset policy
• Create an export-directed culture; reduce obstacles
and barriers to entry for all companies
• Supply State matching funding for key federal
proposals, particularly to the U.S. Economic
Development Administration, to launch projects
across the region that will jumpstart the innovation
economy
• Consolidate existing export assistance programs to a
“one stop shop”
• Create support programs for PTAC’s and other
specialized service providers
• Create mechanisms to leverage funding through
federal agencies, national foundations and other
opportunities as part of a new national “Startup”
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80
•
•
initiative that is designed to accelerate regional
innovation clusters
Benchmark NYS against best practices in terms
of investment tax credits that spur innovation and
venture development
Encourage the use of Public Private Partnerships to
facilitate infrastructure improvements
Balance Taxes and Regulation Burdens
Though there have been recent notable improvements, local
and statewide business environments are still uncompetitive
when judged by property tax burdens, regulatory hurdles, and
unwieldy, slow and difficult to navigate business processes,
such as permitting, licensing, etc. Tourism, for example,
is about small business in the commercial realm and the
overarching themes of property tax relief and implementation
of business friendly practices at the State level are applicable
in this context. In addition it is necessary to strengthen
local public private partnerships to support efforts such as
beautification and coordinated signage.
Escalating unfunded mandates from New York State have
added significant costs to the budgets of local governments
and school districts throughout the region, with these costs
passed on to residents in the form of increased property taxes.
If state mandates continue to grow faster than the 2 percent
property tax cap, local governments will have no choice
but to reduce investment in infrastructure and other local
governmental services.
Further, the financial impact of Medicaid costs on county
and local governments is tremendous, and property taxes
reflect the escalating costs of Medicaid health care spending.
In Onondaga County, Medicaid costs comprise nearly 70
percent of the mandated spending and 70 percent of collected
tax revenues. Seventy five percent of Medicaid costs are
associated with care for high-risk populations: the chronically
ill, frail elders, and medically complex cases. In the long term
we have proposed the state pilot an initiative in Central New
York to redesign our regional Medicaid approach to reduce
Central New York health care costs.
• Expanded eligibility for the state low-income
housing tax credit program
• Provide greater assistance and resources for
hospitals and other care providers to meet the
rapidly growing regulatory demands of a changing
national health care policy
• Streamline regulatory process and improve
business-NYS agency relationships
• Return the NYS unemployment insurance fund to
solvency
• Reduce the costs of the workers compensation
system in NYS, currently 72 percent above the
national average
• Reduce energy costs, improve utility infrastructure
and grid and support the Recharge NY program
Extend or Expand Productive, Viable Programs
While we have boasted some of the more substantial or
attractive programs in the country in the past, our future
market leaders are facing more diverse economic demands
and require different models of incentive, or expanded
program eligibilities and criteria. Many of the state’s economic
development programs have long stood without change or
adaptation for a now drastically different economy and could
be expanded, repurposed or altered to increase their viability
and usefulness across the diverse economic landscape of New
York State. In 1998, New York State developed the Qualified
Emerging Technology Company tax credit program (QETC)
to foster investment and growth in the small, high technology
companies that the state’s economy will increasingly rely
upon. It is no surprise that the state is focused on these
types of jobs. They are higher paying and have more indirect
economic benefits than most any other sector of the economy.
In 2005, the state expanded the scope and the utility of the
program by developing the QETC Facilities Operations and
Training Credit (“FOTC”). Specifically, the program provides a
refundable tax credit for investments in facilities, research and
development operations and worker training. In other words,
small companies are rewarded with an actual refund check
for making investments in their own growth here in New York.
Unfortunately, the FOTC portion of the QETC program is slated
to expire at the end of this year. It is our recommendation NYS
extend and even strengthen the QETC for facilities, operations
and training.
Another example of an existing program with the potential
to be more effective is Tax Increment Financing. Tax increment
financing is a method of allocating some of the increased
taxes resulting from property redevelopment to pay the costs
of public investment in that project. Using taxes generated
by redevelopment to pay for itself is one of the least painful
ways of financing public improvements. It is relatively painless
to taxpayers because their taxes don’t have to be raised. It is
relatively painless to elected officials because they don’t have
to vote for higher taxes. The increment merely results from the
normal application of existing tax rates to a tax base that is
being made to grow through private investment. We propose
amending the current TIF law to allow school district property
taxes, with the consent of the school districts, to be included in
tax increment calculations.
Lastly, in upstate New York, local IDAs have been an
effective economic development program available to local
governments. They often are self sufficient and the average
cost per job created for projects they assist is $1,830. The
role of local IDAs in helping to create and maintain jobs in
their communities is much greater than serving as a financing
vehicle for projects. Typically, IDAs are the lead economic
development agency and serve as the nexus between the
public and private sectors on economic development activities.
For these reasons, IDAs are involved in a range of activities
including strategic planning, business marketing, workforce
development, infrastructure deployment, business retention,
industrial and business park development, small business
incubator operations and project financing, to name a few.
“Leverage educational institutions with technology, commercialization,
and targeted vocational training.”
—public comment, Forum #1
IDAs are the organizations that work most closely with
business customers, understand their retention and expansion
needs, and are positioned to help coordinate the delivery of
state, local, and federal economic development assistance
to meet those needs. The statutory ability for local IDAs to
finance not for profit projects should be renewed, and their
ability to assist and stimulate economic development should be
supported by the state.
Like the QETC, TIFs and IDAs, there are many programs
we should expand, prolong, or rework to magnify their
effectiveness and applicability to resolving market needs.
We suggest the following specific changes to the following
programs:
• Reform NYS Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit
program to permit bifurcation of State and Federal
tax credit for purchasers.
• Expand the State’s Mainstreet program to include
affordable & market rate residential units;
• Prioritize Excelsior Tax Credit projects that locate in
city centers
• Expand eligibility for the State low income housing
tax credit program to include households whose
incomes are at or below 125 percent of the area
median income.
• Provide adequate funding for the I Love New York
Marketing Campaign and increase the importance
of state supported strategic tourism marketing
investments
• Increase the scope of the Foreign Trade Zones
• Continue state support for critical service delivery
programs such as the NYS SBDC and TRDC
networks
• Continue state support for NYSTAR’s SBIR Outreach
Program
• Innovation NY Seed Capital Fund
• Continue and expand the NYS EAP program
through Empire State Development, with distinct
programs that support MWBE’s, veteran-owned
businesses, community-based small businesses and
technology businesses; Institutionalize inclusive
entrepreneurship in state-funded entrepreneurial
training
• Enhance and market the New York Non Point Source
Abatement & Control Grant Program
Keep Higher Education Accessible, Flexible, and Affordable
As we have identified throughout this strategic plan, building
the workforce of the future is a cornerstone to our long-term
success in the transformation of our economy, and higher
education plays a critical role. In addition to attracting millions
in funding for research and development, the region’s higher
education institutions attract thousands of young, talented
students who can supply the labor pool that will feed our
emerging enterprises and industry concentrations. Despite
being an essential asset to our region, higher education is
increasingly challenged by pressures on public financial aid
programs and declining high school populations through
the northeast. Over the next several years, our colleges and
universities will have to reach further out into the world to
recruit students into Central New York, and maintain the
financial aid programs necessary to support student needs.
In consideration of these pressures, New York State can and
should play a leading role to ensure that higher education
remains an accessible, flexible and affordable option for those
seeking to advance their lives—whether attending college
straight out of high school, or looking to gain new skills and
knowledge midway through a career.
• Continue to fund the Tuition Assistance Program
(TAP) at existing levels.
• Continue to fund Aid to Certain Independent
Colleges and Universities (Bundy Aid), initiated to
assist private colleges who educate New York State
students, at existing levels
• Continue to support public colleges at existing levels
so that they may continue to deliver moderately
priced programs to New York State students
• Support the Say Yes to Education Foundation and its
partners’ efforts to expand access to high education
for our urban populations
Explore Policy Connections to Stimulate Strategic Industries
•
Assist state with compliance with climate action
plan. Aggressive polices can serve as market drivers
for innovations that will reduce green house gas
emissions.
• Create a market for renewable Energy Certificates to
encourage growth of photovoltaic installations.
• Create defined plan to deploy renewable energy to
relieve pressure on transmission and distribution
grid.
Through tax policy and land conservation efforts, including
working landscape easements, to protect and sustain the
region’s agribusiness industries Additionally, though our
regional workforce is widely sought after and lauded as
diligent, highly skilled, and well educated, technological
advancements and the increasingly global nature of the day to
day marketplace for goods and services is creating a growing
disconnect in workforce skill sets present and needed. Without
a sustainable, well funded effort to dig deeply into the future
needs of our industry clusters, the up-skilling needed to stay
competitive will be unmanageable. l
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82
Regional
Implementation
Agenda
T
he Central New York Regional Economic Development
Council is committed to implementing the strategies,
projects, and transformational opportunities outlined
in this strategic plan, and to remain focused and actively
engaged throughout that process. To that end, the CNY REDC
will undertake the following activities and action steps to
manage, support, and monitor existing and emerging projects
to establish a transparent system of governance over our public
investments and private partnerships. Additionally, CNY REDC
will continuously engage the region’s residents in shaping,
supporting, and enacting the regional plan, and ensure that
public participation remains a cornerstone to its activities.
REDC Governance and Overall
5.1CNY
Implementation Plan
The 29 members of the CNY REDC (8 ex officio; 21 business,
education, and not-for-profit associations) have agreed to
serve the growth interests of Central New York for the next two
years. It is anticipated the significant commitment of time and
resources necessary for the effort expended thus far to create
the five-year strategic plan will decrease, but the council’s basic
structure and activities that served to create the plan would
continue. These include:
• Monitoring implementation of the projects, and
making recommendations for course changes as
deemed necessary;
• Evaluating new projects as they emerge, and making
appropriate recommendations to local, state, and
national leaders;
• Continuing the exploration of strategies and
development of implementation plans necessary to
accomplish the region’s three goals as conditions
and opportunities evolve; and,
• Proactively and continuously engaging the public in
the process.
Over the course of the next two years the council intends to
maintain its basic structure:
vBi-monthly, the Vision Work Group will meet to
focus on implementation of the projects, modify
performance measures as necessary, and make
recommendations about Strategic Plan amendments
or adjustments to the broader CNY REDC based on
actual results vs. expected performance measures.
vAt a minimum, the Strategy Work Group will meet on
a semi-annual basis. The work group will review and
revise the Strategy White Papers to include emerging
technologies and the impact of the Strategic Plan
implementation. New members will be asked to join
the work group as technologies and clusters emerge
that warrant further investigation. The Strategy Work
Group would report their findings and outcomes to
the CNY REDC.
vAn Executive Committee will meet on a monthly
basis to review requests for funding and address any
actions requiring immediate attention.
vIt is anticipated the CNY REDC would meet on a
quarterly basis or at the request of the governor
or lieutenant governor. General responsibilities
and activities at meetings include reviewing
new recommendations and determining next
steps, evaluating CFA responses and providing
recommendations to funding agencies, and working
together to ensure the strategic direction of the
region is supporting positive growth for businesses
and citizens across the five-county area. CNY REDC
would have the responsibility to update and make any
required changes to the Strategic Plan and to approve
and act on work group recommendations.
vEmpire State Development (ESD) and other
agency staff will monitor and administrate project
implementation and provide information to the Vision
Work Group and to the general council. ESD will
continue to take a leadership role in facilitating the
coordination of agencies as needed to advance CNY
projects.
5.0 | implementation agenda
vOther work groups
may be formed on an
ad hoc basis.
Given the difference
between the CNY REDC
member’s current two-year
commitment and the longer
five-year term of the region’s
strategic plan, consideration of
membership continuing beyond
these two years is necessary.
It is anticipated guidelines will
be provided by the Statewide
Regional Council at the end
of year one. However, in
anticipation of that planning
process, we respectfully submit
the following proposals for
consideration:
vTo ensure the
successful
transition of council
members we recommend 50 percent of the council
membership remain beyond the second year, instead
serving a three-year term. This would allow new
members to learn about existing strategies and
projects through participation in the CNY REDC’s
work groups during this phasing period, and allow
for a smooth transition in membership without
obstructing the council’s agenda.
vWe propose several organizations retain seats
on the council beyond the two-year membership
term because of their broad representation of
hundreds of companies and numbers of sectors.
These organizations deliver unique insight as
representatives of our diverse regional economy.
Actual members representing these organizations
may change, but the role of the organization on the
council will remain consistent:
o Two associations represent a significant
number of businesses and business
concerns, CenterState CEO and MACNY,
the Manufacturers Association of Central
New York.
o Industrial Development Agency
representative from each of the region’s five
counties.
o Ex-officio members representing the region’s
counties and cities.
o Union organization representation should
play a role in the council and consideration
should be made to include an organization,
such as Unite Here Local 150 AFL-CIO, that
represents many union affiliations.
o Members of anchor institutions specific to
higher education, medical and cultural.
CNY REDC Overall Implementation Plan
As discussed in Section 4, the Central New York strategic plan
supports implementation of strategies encompassing a broad
number of projects focused on three goals.
The synergy of project implementation is critical to achieve
the council’s defined outcomes: to raise average wages, reduce
concentrations of poverty, retain more young people, attract
more venture capital, support innovation and competitiveness
within our region’s businesses, and create dynamic cities that
are talent magnets.
To efficiently track the timelines and manage the
interrelationships associated with implementing the
region’s priority projects, the council has developed project
management tools—18-month and 5-year implementation
matrices—to inform both the council and the community on
the plan’s progress. These tools provide for the inclusion of
current and future intra- and inter-regional initiatives, such as
the Brookings’ Metropolitan Business Plan and Metropolitan
Export Initiative (MEI), and ensure a common platform for
communication and performance evaluation.
The matrices will track priority projects and initiatives
and will be organized around the region’s three priority goals
(see pages 84-87 for representations of the CNY REDC
Implementation Matrices). The matrices will provide a timeline
of critical project deadlines and an overall timeline to show
how the region plans to sustain the public participation process
over the five-year implementation time frame.
83
84
Due to the limited time to develop and prioritize projects and the scheduled timeframe for
application awards, many factors prevented the population of the tools with priority projects at
this time. However, the following represents what we believe to be the critical next steps to begin
implementation of the region’s strategies.
18-Month
implementation plan
Month 1
Month 2
1-Jan
Deliverable / Goal
Revise strategy wide papers
and update implementation
plan
CNY REDC Executive Committee
Monthly Meeting
CNY REDC
Quarterly Meeting
Vision Work Group
Bi Monthly Meeting
Strategy Work Group
Semi-Annual Meeting -- To
revise strategy white papers
and update implementation
plan
Public Engagement
Region Wide Forum (Plan
Ranking and
Implementation)
Month 3
1-Feb
Monthly Meeting
Month 4
3-Mar
Monthly Meeting
Month 5
3-Apr
Monthly Meeting
Month 6
4-May
Monthly Meeting
Month 7
4-Jun
Semi-Annual Project
Status Reports
Mass Media Push
"promote and
engage"
Monthly Meeting
Monthly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
Bi Monthly Meeting
Month 8
5-Jul
Month 9
5-Aug
5-Sep
Delivery of Brookings
Metropolitan Business
Plan
Monthly Meeting
Monthly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
Bi Monthly Meeting
Mo
Qu
Bi Monthly Meeting
Bi Monthly Meeting
Semi-Annual Meeting
Survey
"Best Practices for
Reach Out"
Region Wide Forum
(input to qrtly mtg.)
CFA Workshop
CFA Workshop
Region Wide Forum
Mass Media Push
"promote and engage"
CFA Workshop
Region Wide Forum
CFA Workshop
I. Strengthening Targeted Industry Concentrations that are Leveraging Unique Economic Assets
Sample Priority Project:
Biotechnology Park at Kennedy
Square
Monthly Status Update to
discuss project obstacles
(funding, regulatory,
bureaucratic, etc)
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Funding Secured,
Monthly Status
Update
Award to existing
contractor, Monthly
Status Update
Monthly Status Update
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Construction of 6 Lab
Suites Completed,
Mo
Monthly Status
Up
Update
Contractor Bidding
Begins, Monthly
Status Update
Monthly Status
Update
Construction
Commences
Mo
Up
Construction on
Nojaim buildout
begins (monthly
status update)
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Mo
Up
Lead Entity: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Partners: SUNY ESF
Measures:
II. Improving Competiveness in, and Connections to, the Regional, National and Global economies
Sample Priority Project: Port of
Oswego East Side Connector
Finalization of Engineering Plans (including monthly status update)
Lead Entity: Port of Oswego Authority
Partners:
Measures:
III. Revitalizing our Region’s Urban Cores, Mainstreets and Neighborhoods
Neighborhood Food and Health
Center / Nojaims / St Joes
Design Phase (including monthly status update)
Lead Entity: Nojamin Inc.
Partners: Near West Side Initiative, St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center
Measures:
Delivery of
Brookings Metro Business Plan
Plan
Continued work to clarify 12-County regional strategies and determine lead projects
Lead Entity: CenterState CEO
Partners: Onondaga County, CNY TDO, Syracuse University, City of Syracuse, Mohawk Valley Edge, Tompkins County Area Development, Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council, Seneca County IDA, Operation Oswego County, Oneida Herkimer Community F
Measures:
Month 8
-Jul
Month 9
5-Aug
Month 11
6-Oct
Delivery of Brookings
Plan
Monthly Meeting
Monthly Meeting
Month 12
6-Nov
Month 13
7-Dec
Taking the Pulse
Survey
Monthly Meeting
Monthly Meeting
Monthly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
g
h
ge"
Month 10
5-Sep
Bi Monthly Meeting
Month 14
Month 15
7-Jan
7-Feb
1. Update performance measures and
Year 2 Public
recommend plan amendments 2.
Update Strategies and Implementation Participation Action
Plan 3. Submittal of Annual Progress Plan
Reports
Monthly Meeting
Monthly Meeting
Monthly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
Month 17
Apr.
Monthly Meeting
Month 18
May.
Monthly Meeting
Bi Monthly Meeting
Region Wide Forum
CFA Workshop
CFA Workshop
"Taking the Pulse"
Survey (are you being
heard?)
Region Wide Forum
Monthly Meeting
Bi Monthly Meeting
Semi-Annual Meeting -- Update
Strategies and Implementation Plan
CFA Workshop
Jun.
Quarterly Meeting
Bi Monthly Meeting -- Update
Performance Measures and
Recommend Plan Amendments
Bi Monthly Meeting
Month 16
10-Mar
Participation Statistical Analysis
Semi-Annual Meeting
Region Wide Forum
(Yr. 2 Action Plan)
Region Wide Forum
CFA Workshop
CFA Workshop
Region Wide Forum
Monthly Status
Update
Construction of 6 Lab
Suites Completed,
Monthly Status
Monthly Status
Update
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Submittal of Annual Progress Report
Occupancy of Lab
describing jobs created, other
Suites, Monthly Status
performance measures met, and any
Update
project obstacles
Monthly Status
Update
Construction
Commences
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Submittal of status report
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Construction Ends,
Facility Operational
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Submittal of status report
Construction on
Nojaim Buildout
Completed (monthly
status update)
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Delivery of
Plan
ration Oswego County, Oneida Herkimer Community Foundation
Implement Lead Projects
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Five-Year
implementation plan
Quarter 1
Quarter 2
1-Jan
Quarter 3
1-Apr
Quarter 4
1-Jul
Quarter 1
1-Oct
Quarter 2
1-Jan
(1) Delivery of Semi Annual
Project Status Reports
(2)Delivery of Brookings
Metropolitan Business Plan
Selection of New
REDC Members
(1) Updates to Performance
Measure, Plan, Strategy,
Implementation (2) Submittal
of Annual Project Progress
Reports
Quarter 3
1-Apr
Quarter 4
1-Jul
Quarter 1
1-Oct
Quarter 2
1-Jan
Selection of New
REDC Members
(1) Updates to
Performance Measure,
Plan, Strategy,
Implementation (2)
Submittal of Annual
Project Progress Reports
1-Apr
Deliverable / Goal
Strategy Updates /
Implementation Plan
Updates
CNY REDC Executive
Committee
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Mon
CNY REDC
Quarterly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting -Selection of New
REDC Members
Quarterly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
REDC Members
Quarterly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
Qua
Vision Work Group
Bi Monthly Meetings
Bi Monthly Meetings
Bi Monthly Meetings
Bi Monthly Meetings
Bi Monthly Meetings -Performance Measure
Bi Monthly Meetings
Updates, Recommended Plan
Updates
Bi Monthly Meetings
Bi Monthly Meetings
Bi Monthly Meetings
Updates, Recommended
Plan Updates
Bi M
Strategy Work Group
Semi-Annual Meeting - To revise strategy
white papers and
update
implementation plan
Semi-Annual Meeting -Update Strategies and
Implementation Plan
Semi-Annual Meeting
Implementation Plan
Sem
Public Engagement
2 Regional Forums
Outreach Survey
Semi-Annual Meeting
Regional Forum
2 CFA Workshops
Regional Forum
2 CFA Workshops
Mass Media Push
Regional Forum
CFA Workshop
Assesment Survey
2 Regional Forums
Statistical Analysis of Part.
Regional Forum
2 Workshops
Regional Forum
2 CFA Workshops
Mass Media Push
Regional Forum
CFA Workshop
Assesment Survey
2 Regional Forums
Outreach Survey
Regional Forum
2 Workshops
I. Strengthening Targeted Industry Concentrations that are Leveraging Unique Economic Assets
Biotechnology Park at
Kennedy Square
Monthly Status
Updates
Funding Secured and
Awarded to Existing
Contractor, Monthly
Status Updates
Construction of 6 Lab Suites
Completed, Delivery of SemiAnnual Status Report, Monthly
Status Updates
Occupancy of Lab
Suites, Monthly
Status Updates
Submittal of Annual Progress
Report
Monthly Status
Update
Construction Ends,
Facility Operational,
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Submittal of Annual
Progress Report
Construction Completed on
Nojaim Buildout, Monthly
Status Update
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
Monthly Status
Update
St Joes Buildout
Completed, Submittal of
Annual Progress Report
Lead Entity: SUNY Upstate Medical University
Partners: SUNY ESF
Measures:
II. Improving Competiveness in, and Connections to, the Regional, National and Global economies
Finalization of Engineering Plans, Monthly
Sample Project: Port of
Oswego East Side Connector Status Update
Contractor bidding begins,
construction commences,
Lead Entity: Port of Oswego Authority
Partners:
Measures:
III. Revitalizing our Region’s Urban Cores, Mainstreets and Neighborhoods
Sample Project:
Construction on Nojaim
Monthly Status
Neighborhood Food and
Design Phase, Monthly Status Update
Buildout Begins, Monthly Status
Update
Health Center / Nojaims / St
Update
Joes
Lead Entity: Nojaims, Inc
Partners: Near West Side Initiative, St Joseph's Hospital Health Center
Measures:
Continued work to clarify 12-County
Brookings Metro Business
regional strategies and determine lead
Plan
projects
Lead Entity: CenterState CEO
Delivery of Metropolitan
Business Plan
Lead Project Implementation
Partners: Onondaga County, CNY TDO, Syracuse University, City of Syracuse, Mohawk Valley Edge, Tompkins County Area Development, Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council, Seneca County IDA, Operation Oswego County, Oneida Herkimer Community Foundation
Measures:
R
M
Quarter 1
ct
Quarter 2
1-Jan
Quarter 3
1-Apr
Quarter 4
1-Jul
(1) Updates to
Plan, Strategy,
Implementation (2)
Submittal of Annual
Project Progress Reports
Quarter1
1-Oct
Quarter 2
1-Jan
Selection of New
REDC Members
(1) Updates to Performance
Measure, Plan, Strategy,
Implementation (2)
Submittal of Annual Project
Progress Reports
Quarter 3
1-Apr
Quarter 4
1-Jul
Quarter 1
1-Oct
Quarter 2
1-Jan
Selection of New
REDC Members
(1) Updates to
Plan, Strategy,
Implementation (2)
Submittal of Annual
Project Progress
Reports
Quarter 3
1-Apr
Quarter 4
1-Jul
1-Oct
Selection of New
REDC Members
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Quarterly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
REDC Members
Quarterly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
REDC Members
Quarterly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
Quarterly Meeting
REDC Members
Bi Monthly Meetings
Plan Updates
Bi Monthly Meetings
Bi Monthly Meetings
Plan Updates
Bi Monthly Meetings
Bi Monthly Meetings
Bi Monthly Meetings
Bi Monthly Meetings
Plan Updates
Bi Monthly Meetings
Bi Monthly Meetings
Implementation Plan
Semi-Annual Meeting
Implementation Plan
Semi-Annual Meeting
2 Regional Forums
Outreach Survey
Regional Forum
2 Workshops
Regional Forum
2 Workshops
Mass Media Push
Implementation Plan
Regional Forum
CFA Workshop
Assesment Survey
2 Regional Forums
Outreach Survey
Semi-Annual Meeting
Regional Forum
2 Workshops
Regional Forum
2 Workshops
Mass Media Push
Regional Forum
CFA Workshop
Assesment Survey
2 Regional Forums
Outreach Survey
Regional Forum
2 Workshops
Submittal of Annual
Progress Report
St Joes Buildout
Completed, Submittal of
Annual Progress Report
on
ida Herkimer Community Foundation
Review, update of
Metropolitan Business Plan
Continued implementation of existing or new lead projects
Regional Forum
2 Workshops
Mass Media Push
Regional Forum
CFA Workshop
Assesment Survey
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5.2
Public and Stakeholder Engagement
Sustainability Plan
The CNY REDC Public Engagement Plan makes tangible our
vision statement’s emphasis on “taking ownership.” The process
thus far (August-November 2011, see Section 3) represents the
first step in the right direction toward a community-driven and
holistic strategy for equitable and sustained prosperity.
Achieving our vision depends upon a slow but steady
process of building trust, empowerment, collaboration,
responsibility, and ownership over time across all five counties.
Our experiences confirm many levels of communication are
required to reach the broadest range of stakeholders: from
those who are already involved in daily business decisionmaking to those who work in other sectors or for whom
business and economic development strategies are foreign
concepts. With the first group, we want to move nimbly to
support their investments where they intersect with our
goals. With the other two groups, the process involves a
greater degree of education and two-way dialogue. All three
groups require some form of demonstrable result that they
will recognize as valuable. Thus our plans include a range of
creative, respectful, culturally sensitive and energetic forms of
outreach.
Among other components, our Public and Stakeholder
Engagement Sustainability Plan includes strategies intended to
change the very terms in which we talk about “The Economy”
so that we can think and act more comprehensively about
taking shared responsibility for “Our Economy.” Central New
York’s economy can be a shared, vibrant co-creation that both
sustains us now—equitably and across our five-county region—
and that also includes wise and thoughtful plans for the future
well-being of all citizens.
To achieve results that all residents will recognize as
valuable is difficult on two major counts: (1) a large amount
of very technical information, including labor forecasts can
overwhelm the layperson, and (2) we are acting during a period
of sustained economic uncertainty which has created suffering
for many residents. Many of our strategies and tactics are
crafted with full awareness of both national and local data on
rising levels of income inequality since the 1980s. In some ways
we have time to be patient, systematic, and self-reflective in our
forms of outreach, but because many residents are suffering
right now, there is an urgency to realize the benefits of the
strategic investments in our plan.
Therefore, the first step in the next phase of this process
is to hold a major region-wide open comment session after
the state awards are announced. The session will review the
process to date and examine how the CFA projects fit as
Table 5.1: Public and Stakeholder Engagement Plan for 2011-2015
Goals
Communicate and Reflect
Strategies and Outcomes
•
•
•
•
•
Continue to hold regional public sessions: one in every county, in different settings and open to
those from all five counties (five sessions per year, ideally on a routine selected day, for example,
second Tuesday of the given month)
Leverage the Be Heard CNY campaign for continued all-media approach (Internet, TV, PSA’s,
radio, print), door-to-door (target: one “push” per six months, total of ten over the five years)
Examples: informational flyer about the REDC and its goals and projects. We will adapt this
slogan to a more active form such as “Get Involved in CNY’s Growth”
Offer free, public, periodic workshops on using the CFA website throughout the region (one per
county in first year)
Share and highlight business projects with the public
Reflect upon outcomes and lessons learned across all the projects that are funded in the first
round
Educate
Use the strategies above to inform and empower citizens and groups in understanding the following:
•
their own relationship to the council
•
using the CFA website
•
creating awareness of region-wide goals
•
developing a sense of long-term, strategic thinking
•
assessing the strategic plan, the breadth of projects involved, its results and outcomes, etc.
•
Measure levels of engagement through formal feedback/surveys periodically, beginning in Jan/
Feb 2012, a “Taking the Pulse” theme (see “Communicate” above)
Include
•
•
•
Involve and Empower
•
•
Co-create
•
•
•
Seek, over time, to reach a statistically representative sample of the population from the overall
region and to include a steadily growing number of citizens over the course of the five years
Use a cross-cultural and multilingual approach in order to access all audiences
Engage communities in gathering and compiling feedback and reporting it to the council
Intentionally build a named, engaged core group charged with a strong sense of purpose, which
meets regularly and maintains/solicits communications, representing many constituencies while
supplementing this structure with constant flow of “newcomers”
Conduct periodic surveys in businesses, schools, libraries, senior centers, unions, work training
sites, government agencies, other points of contact with citizens
Use media (TV or live web exchange) to invite the public and stakeholders to discuss the
strategic plan
Invite citizens and community groups to design and administer communications and outreach,
e.g. engaging high school students in a public discussion of “What is an economy?,” etc.
Move from “we tell and you respond” to “help us decide” to “collaborate on evaluation and on the
planning of further strategic actions,” possibly through a Citizens Committee
Table 5.2: Metrics for assessing progress
Year 1
(Nov 2011 to Nov
2012)
• Hold five facilitated
regional public
sessions primarily
to communicate and
educate
• Utilize two forms of
outreach through mass
media
• Hold five free, public
workshops on using
the CFA website
• Complete regular
website updates to
share business projects
• Launch at least one
“Taking the Pulse”
survey launched at
the public session in
November
• Research the
possibility of a Citizens
Committee and
present findings to full
council for decision
• Begin a major push
through all government
offices to promote
REDC work through
flyers and brochures
• Engage those
leading projects
funded through the
plan in spreading
word through their
constituencies
• Use approach of “Bring
a friend” to a session
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Same, with more
Same, with more public
engagement in decisionmaking based upon
outcomes and with
participants up to 600
people
Same, with more public
engagement in decisionmaking based upon
outcomes and with
participants up to 800
people
• Achieve a steadily
increasing number
of persons who participate in the REDC
process
engagement in
assessment of outcomes
and incorporating:
• At least one “Taking
the Pulse” survey
launched at the public
session in November;
including analysis of
results and integration
of new suggestions
• Enlisting higher
education institutions
in research on fostering
shifts in public
discourse about “the
economy”
• Leverage our central
location in NYS as a
platform for organizing
an inter-regional
summit on such topics
as targeted industry
clusters, best practices
in engaging the public,
or assessing plan
outcomes
• Identify new projects
• Assess outcomes
• Actively participate in
drafting the plan for
2017-2022
• Total, cumulative
involvement should be
at least 1,000 people
across all counties.
Additional goals, achieve:
• a statistically
representative and
steadily increasing
numbers of
participants (at
least 400 people,
30 different new
organizations per
county)
• increased levels of
understanding of
technical information
• 50% retention of
public and stakeholders
• Increased progress
on shifting the public
discourse on “the
economy”
merely ONE part of our overall strategic plan. At that time we
can clearly present the full details of our five-year strategies,
projects, and metrics, gathering crucial feedback for the next
stages.
In addition, by mid-January 2012: the CNY REDC will
establish a core group of volunteers from the full CNY REDC
to guide the public engagement process for the next five years.
This core will be supplemented by additional recruits from a
pool of complete newcomers. The REDC will also continue to
reach out to some of the most vocal critics of the process. Plans
may eventually include a form of “Citizens’ Committee” (as
suggested by the public participants at an event on October 20,
2011), modeled after that employed by the national United Way
organization, in which citizens assist during the CFA process in
some way. We will research this idea and provide more details
at a later date; the November 14 deadline simply precludes full
analysis of the approach in time for this document.
The full range of our strategies, goals, and intended
outcomes is summarized in the tables below. Public
engagement with CNY’s REDC will continue through both faceto-face and technology-based means, as requested in our public
sessions. Ideally, exchanges of information will demonstrate
to citizens that their input is being taken seriously, heard and
integrated into the plans on an ongoing basis. Thus we are
building into our plans a phased transition of metrics: initially
measuring sheer numbers of participants at events then shifting
to number of participants who helped impact the plan’s outcomes.
Developing these participatory cycles will take time, patient
effort, outreach, and education. l
89
90
Performance
Measurement
6.1Baseline Overview of Indicators
The CNY Regional Economic Development Council has charted
a bold course for economic growth in the five-county region.
To track our progress over the next five years, the council has
identified broad-based regional indicators, along with more
detailed indicators that provide data for each of the specific
goal areas: strengthening targeted industries that leverage
unique economic assets; improving competitiveness in
regional, national, and global economies; and revitalizing our
region’s urban cores, main streets, and neighborhoods.
The indicators represent a range of markers for which we
have set targeted benchmark numbers that measure the results
of our strategy and the projects we have undertaken. Our
aggressive targets reflect the optimism we have in the efficacy
of the Central New York strategic plan—and the motivation of
the region’s citizens to advance our vision.
As we move forward, CNY REDC will work with our
national partners and local expertise to constantly monitor our
benchmark numbers to sync with challenges and opportunities
that emerge. The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public
Affairs of Syracuse University is world renowned for its work
in public policy analysis, in particular in areas of public finance,
development and evaluation. We will work in collaboration
with researchers and policy experts locally, and continue our
engagement with Brooking Institution and other national think
tanks, to ensure that our region employs the necessary tools to
remain effective in our public policy and strategic investments.
The target numbers, as shown in the following tables,
tie directly to our strategic projects. With the creation
and retention of high paying jobs in our region’s vital and
enduring sectors, such as clean energy and environmental
systems, agriculture, advanced manufacturing, and health and
biomedical sciences, we expect gains in the number of jobs
and overall wages. Such programs as Say Yes to Education,
which puts higher education into the reach of all city students,
and the Work Train Program, which provides culturally relevant
job training aligned with strategic industry clusters, will help
us increase educational achievement. And our continued
presence as a refugee resettlement area and our ability to keep
students in Central New York after they graduate from our
region’s colleges will impact our population growth.
As part of our goal to strengthen targeted industry clusters,
with such projects as the creation of the CNY Biotechnology
Research Center and the Cortland Business Innovation Center,
we will expect increases in the number of new businesses.
The work being done in these areas will also feed the growth
of patent applications and research expenditures that coincide
with increasing competitiveness and connections to regional,
national, and global markets.
In regards to international markets, we seek to double our
exports by producing and marketing products that reverberate
around the world, including the C-Speed center expansion with
its work in air surveillance radar and the Fulton Companies’
expansion to accommodate the production of large-steam
boilers and low-emissions boilers for industrial applications
worldwide.
Along with business and economic growth, we will realize
renewed urban cores, main streets, and neighborhoods—
represented by data on housing affordability and job density.
For example, the Prospect Place project in Syracuse promotes
affordable housing and density while the Kennedy Square
project will localize new jobs in an underutilized urban
space. We also want to show marked results through transit
accessibility data, improving our transportation infrastructure
and supplying cleaner and greener options to move people
back and forth to work.
The specific tactics described are just a few of the
strategies and projects that will help us attain the benchmarks
that we have set forth as listed at right.
6.0 | performance measurement
Central New York
Regional
Performance
Metrics
See the following page
for a key on each metric
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92
Central New York Regional Performance Metrics
key
6.0 | performance measurement
6.2
Process for Strategic Plan
Implementation Evaluation
and Updating
The CNY REDC Governance Plan supports consistent review,
evaluation, and (if necessary) updating of the strategic plan.
Systemic metric and information feedback loops ensure
project owners monitor the performance of their projects,
have leading indicators in place to proactively respond when
performance does not meet expectations, and implement
corrective actions, if required. Through evaluation of project
performance across the diversity of Central New York projects
best practice actions may be defined. Sharing of these actions
and including in a “lessons learned” database provide for
continuous improvement mechanisms benefiting current and
future projects.
The Strategic Plan Implementation and Updating process
includes the following tactical actions:
• The council will establish communication vehicles
(either through project contract requirements or follow
up plans) with project owners and agency support staff
to ensure a consistent flow of information.
• ESD staff will act as the consolidating agent for project
updates and will provide this information to the Vision
Work Group.
• The Vision Work Group will review CNY project
progress and compare expected and actual
performance. If required, the work group will work with
or will reach out to subject matter experts who will
work with the project team to determine corrective
action. The work group will determine if modifications
need to be made to the Strategic Plan (implementation
plan or Performance Measures), and will prepare
recommendations to take to the CNY REDC or,
if immediate action is required, to the Executive
Committee.
• At the CNY REDC meetings, the Vision Work Group
will present updates on CNY projects’ performance
and make recommendations for modifications to the
Strategic Plan, if required. As well, the work group will
provide information about regional best practices.
• Based on information from the Vision Work Group
and other subject matter experts, the CNY REDC will
consider recommendations and through consensus
determine what, if any, modifications should be made
to the Strategic Plan.
These modifications will be posted on the CNY REDC Open
for Business website.
advances. The following describe how the CNY REDC plans
to address technology advances and identify and respond to
environmental risks.
Technology Advancement
Improvements in technology and the emergence of new
technologies will impact the strategies and tactics identified
in the region’s Strategy White Papers. The governance plan
establishes a process to ensure there is both flexibility to adapt
and capability to address technology advancements:
The Strategy Work Group will meet (at a minimum) semiannually to review updates to the Strategy White Papers.
Technology changes in the industry clusters prioritized by
the CNY REDC will be discussed with the white paper subject
matter experts. Recommended next step actions and projects
will be evaluated and, if warranted, presented to the CNY
REDC.
The impact of emerging technologies will be evaluated.
Recommended next step actions (potentially the development
of a new strategy white paper) and projects will be evaluated
and, if warranted, presented to the CNY REDC.
The Strategy Work Group will present updated Strategy
White Paper information to the CNY REDC. The council will
review the information, determine if changes should be made
to the prioritized industry clusters based on the information,
and determine next step actions (potential actions include, but
are not limited to, inclusion of a new priority industry cluster,
further action to evaluate the new technology and its impact on
CNY).
Risk Identification and Response
Central New York’s Regional Economic Development Council
is monitoring broader trends which may impact our plans for
the next five years, and to which we are prepared to adapt so as
to stay on track with our overall vision and goals. These include:
for Strategic Plan
6.3Process
Progress Response
The CNY REDC has defined a process to monitor, evaluate,
and update the strategic plan based on project performance.
There are also processes in place to continuously evaluate the
plan against changing environmental trends and technology
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94
“We are facing a Digital Divide that may put low-income students who
do not have access to the Internet and its resources at a disadvantage.”
—public comment, redc 6 meeting
Risk: Prolonged/double dip recession which slows or inhibits
anticipated growth.
institutions could/will change. We must build processes and
systems that will survive our current collaborative relationships.
Response: By strategically investing and supporting the growth
of the region’s diverse industry concentrations, we hope to
mitigate the potentially crippling effects of a prolonged or
double dip recession. Central New York’s regional economy
fared comparatively better than the nation during the last
recession—a fact partly contributed to the steady growth and
stability of the region’s varied industry strengths.
Response: Turnover of the current progressive and
collaborative leadership is ultimately unpreventable. However,
activities can be engaged immediately to develop new leaders
who can ultimately transfer into local leadership positions.
There are a handful of regional leadership development
programs like the Central New York Political Leadership
Institute and Leadership Greater Syracuse. These programs
must be closer aligned with groups that represent young talent
(like young professionals groups) to ensure that tomorrow’s
leaders are as effective as current leadership. In addition,
Central New York must continue to build governance systems
that embed collaboration in the region’s business process, and
not simply its current practice. Success has already been seen
inside Central New York through the Economic Development
Leadership Council in Syracuse and the formation of the CNY
Regional Economic Development Council.
Risk: Economic instability in world financial markets, especially
the European Union (EU) – Overall instability in world financial
markets can have a serious impact on the growth of foreign,
emerging markets and therefore may slow down the potential for export and foreign direct investment growth. Europe
remains a key trading partner of the United States. The ongoing
debt crisis in the EU could impact the export activity of local
businesses that have targeted the region for growth.
Response: In response to the possibility of continued economic
instability in the European Union, Central New York will focus
its export assistance programming on encouraging companies
to trade with new and emerging growth markets. Many
companies already export, or plan to export, to emerging
markets in South America and Asia. If prolonged economic
instability remains in the European Union and in worldwide
financial markets, companies will need to seek diversity in
target markets to ensure stability in sales.
Risk: Planned and mandated cuts to Federal Defense Spending –
The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is currently
working to draft and submit a plan to reduce the country’s
rising federal debt. It is expected that federal defense spending is a possible target, among others, for planned cutbacks. If
the Committee fails to reach an agreement, automatic cuts to
defense spending would be immediately triggered that could
be more drastic than those prescribed by the committee.
In general, it is expected that the draw down in troops from
Afghanistan and the conclusion of the war in Iraq will lead to
fiscal constraint in federal defense spending. These cutbacks
could have a significant impact on the many defense contractors located in the region.
Response: The region must immediately work with our state
leaders in Washington DC to communicate the importance in
avoiding the automatic defense cutbacks that would arise if the
Committee reaches an impasse. In the longer term, the commercialization of technologies must be accelerated into civilian
uses. Initiatives like the FAA authorization of Unmanned Aerial
Vehicle use around Hancock Airport can help spur the transfer
of knowledge into private, civilian uses.
Risk: Leadership turnover – There remains the possibility that
key leaders in business, academia, government, or community
Risk: Rising energy and health care costs – Rising costs reduce
capital available for business investment. We must be aware
and supporting of energy efficiency and cost containment
programs.
Response: Though many of the issues affecting the rising
cost of healthcare and energy need to be dealt with on the
state and federal level, the region can undertake a handful of
local initiatives that can impact rising costs. These include
new programs to encourage and promote energy efficiency to
reduce costs and developing new sources of energy generation
within the region.
Risk: The widening disparity between rich and poor in the United
States – A prolonged decline in the region’s manufacturingbased economy has resulted in stagnant job and wage growth,
and the recent recession has only increased pressures on a
vulnerable middle class. As educational achievement has
become increasingly requisite for higher quality jobs, there is a
growing disparity between those who can readily access higher
education and/or advanced training opportunities, and those
who cannot. This dynamic continues to exacerbate a widening
gap between rich and poor.
Response: This dynamic is unsustainable as the effects of
poverty will increasingly exhaust limited local resources over
time. Meaningful improvements will require long term and
multifaceted strategies. It is imperative that we create more
high quality jobs within the region, while simultaneously
working to improve Pre-K-12 education in urban and rural
communities; revitalize our urban core neighborhoods; and
provide better access to economic opportunities through more
effective workforce development systems. l
bibliography
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Memorial Institute, Columbus Ohio, November 2007.
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Roadmap, Battelle Memorial Institute, December 2003.
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Central New York
Regional Economic Development Council
Five-Year Strategic Plan | 2012-2016
November 2011

CNY Regional Economic Development Plan

Transcription

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